The Drake-Croft Journals
by spadefantasy
Summary: Nathan Drake and Lara Croft are trying to find the Fountain of Youth. While their expedition keeps them in action, their search for the fountain becomes somewhat moot when they begin to realize there is more at hand than just the legendary myth; their feelings begin to interrupt their work.
1. A Thief & Archaeologist Meet

**NOTE: The Uncharted series and Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. This is an AU where minor things have been changed. This fanfiction takes place after Uncharted 4 and after Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The only things really changed from canon is Nate's age and relationship with Elena; Nate has been made a little younger (in his early 30s). Anyways... thank you for reading and enjoy!**

* * *

The cave's damp darkness didn't help matters when Nate let out a vicious groan of pain. The rock that had took hold of his ankle had no intentions of letting him leave, and while he let out winces and whines, Lara had stuck by his side and attempted to give him support. She grabbed a knife out of her sheath and gave him a look as to indicate she was about to use it to get the rock off, considering she needed some leverage to help her with it.

"Calm down," she told him, "I'm getting you out of this. Just calm down."

She slid the knife's blade under the rock then, in which Nate wanted to jerk away but kept himself from moving as to ease his fears. He started to watch her slowly lift the rock away from his ankle, though it was somewhat painful, he was able to move his leg away and have full control again. He let out a heavy breath and Lara put her knife away, gesturing for him to follow her out of the cave. She realized part of her felt as if this were her fault, but she tried to push that down and forget about it.

* * *

_5 Days Earlier_

The village seemed to be in celebration mode as the group walked along the paths of the people. Nate and Sully were talking about the recent merchants they had came across while Sam was behind them, in which he was bouncing from booth to booth and person to person, almost being a tourist of sorts. "This… amulet thing, kid… are you sure it's around here?" Sully asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he tried to figure out the situation again. Nate's eyes shifted from person to person as they walked, seemingly not hearing Sully's question for a moment before he had finally came to. He gave the elder a smile as to tell him he had been listening, just distracted in that instance.

"Yeah, yeah, somewhere," Nate replied, pursing his lips for a moment before he sighed softly, "Just gotta figure out Drake's puzzle."

There was a sudden furrow to Sully's brows; he could tell something was on Nate's mind now. He cleared his throat and rested his hand on his shoulder, nodding to him in reassurance, "It'll be fine, kid. I know it's hard to move on-"

"I'm moving on," he said quickly, snatching away from Sully almost, not because he was annoyed or wanted to get away, but because he didn't like feeling vulnerable about thinking about his past. He didn't want to think about his ex or that relationship right now. He was here, right now, to take his mind off the divorce that had took place only a few months ago. He didn't want to be reminded of it when that was what he was trying to forget.

Sully winced at Nate's sudden change of tone, though he didn't get angry since he understood that he was going through a difficult time. When Nate and Elena separated, the kid had went to him for comfort and help. Sully wasn't going to let that go, he was going to continue to help him in any way he could. If, for right now, that meant not bringing the divorce up, then he would do just that. Though it pained him to see Nate get so upset, he tried to push that down. "Well… how about we try to find a place to stay for the night, Nate?" the old man asked, a smile curling underneath his mustache.

Sam had walked up behind them before Nate could say anything, resting both his hands on either shoulder of the men, "The people here have some great deals, ya know."

"You're screwing these poor people outta money?"

"Nate," Sam pushed him playfully with a grin, "Of course not. Just observing."

Nate nodded to his brother then, laughing a little bit as they approached what seemed to be the center of the village. "I guess we can ask around about a roof for the night," he told Sully finally. He doubted there was a hotel in a place like this so he hoped there would be a nice enough person to help them out. He figured he would have to start conversation and be friendly in order to get somewhere. He told Sam and Sully to do the same in efforts to obtain a bed to sleep in, splitting up to do so.

While Sully and his brother went around in asking others about if they cared about an extra guest for the night, Nate had managed to come into contact with a villager that went by the name of Dominika. He was thankful that most of the people in the village knew English, or at least most of the people they had met did. When Nate had explained the situation, Dominika seemed eager to help them, though she insisted that they should stay for the bonfire that would happen on later that night.

"I'm gonna guess it's for whatever you guys are celebrating, right?" Nate laughed, smiling softly to the woman.

The woman nodded in reply, "It is. It is birthday for the, uh… head… of the village." Though her English wasn't perfect, Nate appreciated her efforts. He realized it would be rude not to go to the celebration so he decided to agree and not disappoint her. She laughed and gestured for him to follow her then so she could show him to her home. Nate called after Sully and Sam and they were quick to step after.

They were somewhat surprised that Nate had managed to snag them a place to sleep, but they weren't complaining. When they had reached the small home, they thanked the woman for her kindness and took a moment to relax. While Dominika tended to her garden, Nate had grabbed his journal and looked over the riddle he had written down that they had gotten from their trip to Scotland. Though he had solved one part of it, he knew nothing else of what it gave him. The only reason he had made it to Russia was because the riddle had mentioned a "zmei," which he had found out to be a Slavic dragon soon afterwards. Other than that, he had found himself lost to some extent. Where exactly was the Amulet of the Red Dragon?

"Any luck?" Sam asked him, considering Sully had decided to take a nap. He sat down across from Nate at the small four person table that was in the kitchen, offering him a smile. He knew just as good as Sully that Nate was using this to cope with his recent heartbreak, and although he knew better than to mention it, part of him wanted to say something. He kept the smile across his face though, as much as he wanted to talk to his brother about the situation.

Nate sighed, shaking his head, "No, not really."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out. Maybe you just gotta rest that head of yours, you think that's what's it?" Sam leaned forward and playfully tapped Nate's forehead before leaning back in his chair again. His brother gave somewhat of a small laugh before looking away and sighing, closing his journal up. Sam could tell he was bothered. "Do you wanna talk 'bout it?" Sam asked him, gritting his teeth.

"About what?"

"You know… this whole… divorce thing?"

"Oh, not this again," Nate sighed again, hiding his face in his hands like he was embarrassed almost. Sam wasn't sure what to say to that, so he decided to just nod and tell him that he would be there to talk to if he ever changed his mind. He got to his feet and walked outside to have a smoke, in which Nate was in his lonesome to hear his own thoughts.

He tried to forget whatever his head told him and decided to focus on solving the riddle again, or at least attempting to.

* * *

The trio stood around the bonfire with the rest of the village that night. It was a rather big fire, and there was cheerful chatter and some dancing that took place as the village celebrated the birthday. Sully and Sam held a conversation with some other villagers they had met as Nate stayed near the fire for light. He had took a break from the riddle and was sketching the scenes he saw that took place around him. When he had finished drawing someone dancing, he had looked up to across the fire to see a woman and man speaking. They didn't look to be villagers; they were dressed in attire he was familiar with.

His sudden grip of the pencil he held tightened somewhat since he wasn't expecting such a thing. He wondered who they were and where they were from, but he couldn't quite make them out since the heat of the fire distorted some of his reality. The woman suddenly looked across to him, her friend still speaking to her, though she noticed Nate staring at her in awe. She gave him a soft smile and waved, her focus going back to her friend. Nate perked up, but a gentle smile came across his own face. He couldn't help but feel somewhat special over her noticing him, even though it was something as simple as a smile and wave. He looked back down at the page he was doodling on and decided to attempt to draw her, though he had only seen her for that split moment that he realized he wanted to see her features more clearly. He cleared his throat and debated with himself for a moment before making himself walk over to where she was.

When they had noticed him, the woman let out a short and sweet laugh. "You decided to join us?" she asked, her British accent ringing in his ears in a sweet pang. He chuckled in reply to her observation, unsure of how to introduce himself in a good way. He realized he might as well just go for it.

"Yeah, actually. You caught my eye so I figured, ya know," he said, shaking his head, "Anyway… ah, my name is Nate."

"Well, _Nate,_ I'm Lara. And this is my friend, Jonah," the woman gestured to the man then, in which he nodded to Nate with a smile. The welcome was warm and he had to admit it made him feel good.

He closed his journal and put it in his back pocket. He would draw her after this; it would be awkward to do it now when they had only just met, he knew she would question what he was doing. There was an excitement to him though, considering her features were soft and felt delicate. She would be nice to sketch out, a good subject to study.

Nate gave them the traditional "nice to meet you" before asking them why they were visiting. Lara had told him that they were looking for something, but they didn't really go much into detail. "Lookin' for something too," he told them with a smile, hoping they wouldn't mind his small talk, "Maybe shooting for a cover shot on Adventure Life."

"Adventure Life?" Lara asked, raising a brow, "I'm guessing you're looking for something pretty important then?"

He shrugged in response to that. He wasn't really sure if it would be labeled as "important" more so than just being a good find that could be worth some money. "Kind of," Nate simply said, "Amulet of the Red Dragon… said to be guarded by the dragon itself." He made jazz hands while explaining such a thing, considering it did seem like it was from a fairytale. He had experienced supernatural creatures before, but even a dragon seemed like too much to believe in.

Suddenly, the air went stale and everything felt like it paused. Lara had stiffened, as did Jonah, and they were looking at Nate with wide, blinking eyes. Nate looked between the two and felt as if he had said something wrong, though he wasn't sure what. "You're looking for the amulet?" Lara asked him, shocked at his words almost. She wasn't expecting someone else to be looking for it, at least not another archeologist.

"I-... yeah," Nate replied, pursing his lips, "I'm gonna assume that's what you're looking for too?"

"I am."

He gave a laugh, "Well, that's rich." He looked away and bit at his lip. He wasn't used to somebody looking for a treasure he was after that wasn't against him. He felt as if maybe she felt the same way after seeing her own reaction. "Listen, I'm not here to steal it from you or something," Nate said, "I just- ah- how do I say this?"

"Most of the people I know who go after these… relics… aren't exactly the best people," Lara admitted, looking to Jonah for some kind of support. Jonah sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder, smiling to her. He was comforting her in some way almost. Nate realized maybe this was a bad idea, but he couldn't go back now. He was going to bump into her eventually anyway, now that he thought about it.

"I'm just a guy who likes to find treasures," Nate reassured her, "Really."

Lara looked over to him then, her chocolate eyes glistening with a sense of uneasiness until Nate had smiled to her. Somehow his smile made her trust him more. She decided to nod, "Alright then. Maybe we could work together. How much do you know?"

"I have a riddle I can't solve," he joked, "Does that help any?" He grabbed his journal and flipped to the page to show her, in which she looked it over and squinted a bit. She had only managed to get this far due to her father's research. This riddle was new to her, possibly because her father's research was incomplete. Her fingers traced the words that Nate had written down, which made him feel odd since he wasn't used to people touching his journal. He cleared his throat but decided not to say anything.

Lara looked up to Nate, "Could we talk somewhere in private?"

"Sure," he replied, "I have a place I'm staying in, we can go there."

She smiled and gestured for Jonah to come with, in which Nate began to lead them, though he called after Sam and Sully first, who were surprised to see these new people. They walked by either side of Nate and began to whisper in asking who Lara and Jonah were. "Who's the broad?" Sam asked, looking back at her before back to Nate.

Nate smiled somewhat, "As of now they're work friends."

"Work friends?" Sam made a face, "What the hell does that mean?"

"They're looking for the amulet like us. We're both benefiting," Nate shrugged.

Sully looked between them all and seemed to hide a smile before he agreed with Nate. Part of him felt Nate was doing this because she was a pretty girl, but that was surface level. He decided to brush that thought away from him. When they arrived back at Dominika's house, they sat down in the small living room. Lara and Nate looked over the riddle while the others began to talk among themselves. They figured they might as well since they were just meeting each other.

* * *

"Well, we have three places marked down," Lara said softly, pointing to the points on the map that they had circled, "But which one is the right one…"

"Riddle doesn't give much detail," Nate laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, "I mean, I don't know. Might have to try all of them."

"That doesn't sound very fun. One cave is enough."

Nate decided to playfully elbow her, "Or we can spend a few more hours figuring out this riddle." He was trying to make friends with her since they were going to be working together. He'd rather be on good terms than be awkwardly exploring caves together.

The woman gave a soft laugh. It was short but sweet, and he realized suddenly that he hadn't heard her laugh much. He guessed maybe because there wasn't quite much to laugh at and brushed it off. Lara shook her head, "I'd rather not. I guess checking out three caves isn't too bad, especially if we get lucky."

"Yeah, who knows, maybe the first one we do will be our last."

* * *

After they had their "private talk" with the others, Lara and Jonah had left to go back to their own place for the night. Sam and Sully had laid down on their own respective beds while Nate did the same, considering it was pretty late and they were all tired to some extent. Even though they were tired, it didn't stop them from late night conversation. Nate's eyes had already closed before he had heard Sam whisper out his name. He groaned and threw a pillow at his brother, which didn't stop Sam from calling out his name again. "What do you want?" Nate asked reluctantly.

"How's you and the broad going?"

"'How's me and the-'... _what?_"

Sam rolled onto his back and shrugged to himself, "I mean, I don't know. She's good looking."

"Jesus Christ, Sam," Nate sighed, "We literally just met a few hours ago. You do know that, don't ya?"

Sully suddenly piped in, "Would you two shut it?"

Nate perked up and looked over to Sully, "Blame it on Sam."

"I don't care who to blame it on, you're both running your goddamn mouths," Sully replied, rolling over to doze off. Nate and Sam couldn't help but give a small fit of laughter, but eventually they found themselves being able to go to sleep.


	2. Cave Exploring

**NOTE: The Uncharted series and Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. This is an AU so there is some slight modifications, but for the most part everything canon from the games remain. Thank you for reading!**

* * *

It was the day of their second cave exploration. The first cave proved to be a complete bust and didn't even provide any sights of animals, never mind the amulet they were looking for. That day had consisted of the two complaining to each other or standing in complete silence; there was no real conversation, so the two hadn't learned about one another anymore than they had in their first meeting.

Nate and Lara had climbed only a little bit to get to the opening of the new cave since Sully had done them the favor of dropping them off via plane. While they would be surveying the cave, the others would be waiting for a signal to come get them. Nate approached the entrance and clicked his body flashlight on, as did Lara, before he shifted his weight somewhat. He looked over to his companion, "Should we hope for a better turn out today?"

"What? Like a wish?"

"I mean- well, yeah, I guess," he laughed, "Or just… being optimistic."

Lara began to walk into the cave, saying that she was definitely more hopeful this time since she didn't want to explore another cave anyway. Nate followed after, noticing how small the cave seemed at first. He had to admit he was rather confused, at least until Lara had walked over to an opening. She called her partner over and gestured towards the wedge they would have to squeeze through. "I don't know if you'll like it too much," she seemed to joke subtly, "I'll go through first. Don't get stuck."

"I'll try not to," Nate replied, "Or at least I hope I won't."

The woman began to squeeze through the wedge, wiggling herself to the other side before finally finding herself free. She turned around to watch Nate come through then, in which it took him a lot longer than it had for her. He had some difficulty with squeezing through as easily as Lara had due to his bigger frame, yet was able to eventually find himself next to her. He staggered somewhat before straightening up, laughing to himself before he had begun to look around.

Scanning the area revealed a rock bridge that went across a fatal drop down below, though the bridge led to a new opening that was waiting to be explored. The two began to walk across the rock bridge, in which Nate looked down for a moment before whistling. "Yeah, you're definitely dead if you fall," he told himself, "Ever seen a place quite like this before?"

"The bridge almost seems intentional, doesn't it?"

"Maybe that's a good sign," Nate replied.

Lara nodded, "God, I hope so."

Nate walked behind her as they made their way across the bridge, in which the silence felt suddenly awkward between the two of them. The walk would take a few minutes so Nate figured it would be better to start a good conversation, "So… what exactly is your field of work?"

"I'm an archaeologist," Lara explained, "I took after my father... " A sudden smile came across her face when she said that; it was obvious she looked up to her father in some way to have that kind of reaction. Nate perked up then, wondering about her father. He wondered if he had ever heard of him, or read about him at least, and was curious on the fact.

"Who was your dad?"

Lara swayed in her walk, "Richard Croft… or… _Lord_ Richard Croft." She gave a breathless laugh when she had mentioned the last part, almost finding it silly, "But of course I knew him as 'Dad.'"

Nate suddenly stiffened at the name. She was a Croft. He knew that name. He was terrible with faces, but names? He knew names. Now he had the dots all connected. She was Lara Croft.

"You're-... You're Lara Croft," he said aloud, "Jesus, I'm terrible with- I've read about you. In Adventure Life… but it was-"

She turned around to look at him. "'Another Crazy Croft,'" Lara sighed, "Yeah, I know."

Nate furrowed his brows at that reaction, but he decided to follow up with what he was saying, "And I read your blog too."

There was a pause. Lara began to think, thoughts going through her head of what he would even think about her blog. She had written an entire account of her time in Yamatai, and most people either believed she was making it up or was just, as media called her, "another crazy Croft." She held her tongue in saying anything. She was unsure exactly what she _could _say.

The man decided to continue then, "I don't think you're crazy, Lara."

She looked up at him with eyes of confusion. She wasn't expecting that answer. "You don't?" she asked, raising a brow in response to him. He gave her a simple nod, thinking for a moment in wondering if he should tell her his own stories. He realized they had stopped walking due to the nature of the conversation.

"That's… new," she said softly, "I think you're the first person outside Jonah to tell me that."

The mention of that upset him somewhat. Sure, he hadn't known her personally for long at all, but he knew she didn't deserve to be seen as crazy, nor did her father. When he had read the articles about her in Adventure Life, the slander of her name and blog, he had found himself reading her story about Yamatai. To some people, it was probably a fairytale; to him, it was a life similar to his. He had brushed it off after reading it that day because he figured it probably wouldn't come to any importance to him, though he guessed he was wrong.

He decided to lend Lara a soft smile, "I just understand what you've been through is all."

That sentence intrigued Lara. She wasn't sure if she should ask him about that or not, so she decided to go somewhat in the middle of it, "And what's _your_ line of work, Drake?"

"Treasure hunter," he replied with a laugh, "I don't have the degrees or credentials to say I'm an archaeologist."

"So, you're a hobbyist? Any interesting finds?"

Nate decided between telling her or not, but he figured if she had posted an entire blog on her experiences to the public, then he could tell her partly about his own. "El Dorado," he suddenly let out, "I guess that's pretty big, right?"

Lara perked up at that, "El Dorado? _You_ found El Dorado?" They began to walk again then, meaning their conversation had grown to be more lighthearted. The woman gave a gentle laugh at the idea of Nate finding such a big myth as El Dorado. She hadn't known him for too long, but for the days they had of exploring, she could tell he was reckless at times. "My father used to say that El Dorado was probably something that would surprise even the most obsessive researcher," she joked, "Too bad he never got to see if he was right about that."

"He wasn't too far off," Nate told her, trying to ignore her comments beforehand, "It wasn't exactly what was expected."

"Why do you say that?"

"El Dorado is a statue."

"How on _earth_ do you know it was-"

"It was," Nate laughed, putting his hand up sarcastically in response, "But I think you'd like to hear about the part where I can relate to your adventure angst, right?"

Lara opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. She realized he was right, and that she wanted to know how he could possibly relate to anything she had gone through in Yamatai.

Nate put his hand down and began to fumble with the ring on his necklace, almost as if it were a habit of sorts, "I'm gonna skip all the unimportant stuff for a story time and just get down to the nitty gritty things." His mind seemed to almost go elsewhere when he began to think back to finding El Dorado. The experience was still the most bizarre to him, perhaps because it was his first time ever coming across something supernatural. He licked his lips since they felt a little dry, soon continuing where he had left off, "El Dorado was more of a, uh… sarcophagus."

"A sarcophagus?"

"Yeah. Yada yada," he made a motion with his hand that meant to gesture _blah blah_, "Spaniards found it and screwed themselves over by opening it up because it had a damn virus in it." Nate could see Lara's expression change to one of curiosity, "They basically turned into… I guess… zombies- no, that's stupid- well, yeah, I'm just gonna say zombies. Slippery naked people who feasted on blood, will you."

"But anyway, Spaniards screwed up. German soldiers screwed up somewhere along the line. I forget. It's fuzzy. I just remember hairless bodies runnin' after me a lot," Nate seemed to finally end it with that, laughing a little bit, "I guess it can't compare to your little trip."

Lara and Nate had reached the end of the bridge, about to walk into the new opening. She looked him over and thought for a moment. She didn't know how to reply really; she doubted he could make something like that up. She had gone through too much to try and say it was fake. She had reached a decision then, "I vote on a few drinks after finding this amulet. I want to hear more."

Nate perked up, but he wasn't going to deny exchanging stories with someone who had such interesting experiences like Yamatai. "I can't say no to that," he agreed, "I'm sure you got more to say too." They looked into the entrance of the new area then, walking in after seemingly agreeing in a silent unison that they were ready to explore more.

This new part of the cave was much different than the others. The natural walls of rock were now covered in ancient drawings, mostly of dragons, that told the pair they wouldn't have to make that trip to the last cave. As they walked in guide of their cave's path, the two of them began to almost study the drawings; Lara studied them in historical interest, Nate studied them in artistic interest.

Ahead of them was what looked to be a lit up room in the distance. Nate squinted when he had seen the light, "What the hell is that?"

"I'm not sure," Lara replied, the two quickening their pace as they approached the entrance. When they had peeked into the new room, they saw what looked to be torches aligning the cave's walls. The torches were lit up with some kind of blue fire, showing more of the drawings that covered the walls. In the middle of the circular floor was a contraption made of stone. They saw that it looked to have levers, and walking into the room, they saw pictures that were on the stone pieces. There was a sudden realization that this puzzle was a test to get to the amulet.


	3. Dragon's Amulet

**NOTE: Uncharted and Tomb Raider do not belong to me, this is simply an AU. Enjoy! Thank you 3**

* * *

"I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't expecting there to be any of this stuff," Nate sighed, almost annoyed. He figured that most people had not attempted the find of the amulet, though this puzzle proved him differently. Lara walked up to the stones with him, studying it for a moment. She began to pull the levers, seeing if the pictures engraved in the stones would match the ones on the walls, trying to see if there were any patterns. She stopped then in her thought, trying to figure it out in her head.

Nate squinted in trying to do so as well. He realized some of the pictures matched, but he couldn't quite figure out if there was a pattern. His annoyance of there being a test was still burning and nipping at him, so half of him was distracted anyway. Lara stood directly in front of the middle lever then, aligning herself with a torch that burned on the wall. She walked to the lever on the right and aligned herself with another torch. Finally, she went to the lever on the left and, once more, aligned herself with a torch on the wall. While Nate was trying to figure out what she was doing, Lara perked up in realizing the sudden pattern.

She pointed ahead of her to the torches, "The torches are lighting up the significant drawing."

"They are?"

She nodded, telling him to do the same thing she had done. He agreed and moved from lever to lever, noticing each torch had lit up a drawing above them on the wall that held similarity to those on the stones. "Well, look at you," Nate complimented her, grabbing onto the lever he was at. He began pull it until it matched the stone with the picture on the wall. Lara did the same with the lever she was at, in which they had the last one to take care of. "How about you do the honors," he suggested to the woman, nodding towards her.

Lara gave a gentle smile, "You're such a gentleman." Though she said that with a playful tilt her voice, she did somewhat mean what she said. She grabbed at the middle lever and matched the stone with its respective picture and pulled away. When all were matched up, a sudden rumble occurred from the right side of the room. Double doors began to pull apart from each other, exposing a lit up room of golden color.

They looked at one another in awe before they stepped forward. The room was lit up by golden torches, lighting up the treasures that were stashed away by others long ago. Though cobwebs and dust lived in this area of the cave due to the neglect over the years, the scene was amazing no less. Nate soon grew confused in remembering how old the cave was, and how it was supposed to be abandoned.

"Lara," he suddenly let out, "Who the hell lit those torches?"

"I have no idea," she admitted, beginning to walk along the path that was cleared of treasures. There was a want to take something for artifacts and studying, but she decided it would be best to just leave everything as it be. Walking along the path felt as if they were getting closer and closer to their goal, though Lara wasn't sure how to feel. Her stomach twisted into knots as they began to approach what seemed to be a podium; it was where the Amulet of the Red Dragon sat. Something about this didn't feel right. She felt as if this wouldn't be as easy as she believed.

Lara kept hesitant as they stopped in front of the podium. The two of them stared at it for quite some time, the shadows that lurked behind the podium seeming menacing to the both of them. Nate began to reach his hand out, "Should I take one for the team if there's a weird booby trap?"

"Nate—"

His hand grabbed hold of it, but he didn't take it off the podium just yet. The amulet remained where it was as the both of them were suddenly met with what lurked behind the shadows. A large snout revealed itself, slowly coming forward to expose the face of the zmei. This was it; this was the red dragon that guarded the amulet. The creature only revealed its face to them, but it didn't seem to be aggressive or even protective of the amulet. The dragon looked like it was an elder, old and worn down, protecting this amulet for over hundreds of years.

"Do you see the dragon too?" Nate asked, his eyes wide but his voice low.

Lara gave a simple nod before she looked to him, "Be still."

He followed her instructions. His hand remained on the amulet and his body remained stiff. The dragon let steam release from its nostrils, its yellow eyes staring at the both of them. They suddenly realized who had kept the torches lit. Nate pursed his lips, staring up at the dragon with a sense of worry. The dragon looked tired, but he was more so concerned about if this dragon were to kill him or not.

The dragon suddenly nudged the amulet into Nate's hand with its snout. It was telling them to take it. Lara perked up, part of her realizing what exactly was happening. She looked to Nate, who picked up the amulet and began to study the treasure at first before looking over to her. "I don't think he wants to do this anymore," she laughed softly, "He's tired…"

"He's probably been protecting this thing for hundreds of years," Nate replied, turning back to the dragon. He looked to Lara before back to the creature, in which he began to walk closer to it. When he shined his light on the shadows, it revealed the dragon's body that held up that side of the cave. He gave a wince in sympathy, "I wish we could help you, bud."

The creature laid down its head in showing it was trusting of the people who freed it of its duty. Lara walked closer to the dragon's head, along with Nate, and sighed softly at seeing how the creature had been treated. She held her hand out to touch its snout, and although she was hesitant at first, she eventually laid her hand on the scales. The dragon's nostrils let out steam again, closing its eyes in response. Lara smiled softly, but she had nothing to say. Nate simply watched; there really was nothing they could say to this. The most they could do was try to sign to the dragon they would be taking the amulet, and that they wished they could help.

"We should probably try to go before—"

"Right," Lara said quickly, taking her hand away from the dragon and back away, "..Goodbye." She turned around then, Nate following after her as they began to walk out of the treasure filled room. With each step came a rumble, dust falling from the ceiling as if it were threatening to collapse at any moment.

Nate began to grow worried. Why was it suddenly doing this? He looked back at the glowing red ruby in the middle of amulet before realizing that, with each step, it grew dim. He turned around for a split second to see the dragon was beginning to fade into a sickly pale. "Wait," he let out, "I think… the dragon's connected to the amulet." Lara looked between the dragon and amulet and agreed with him. "We're gonna have to run for it," he said, handing the amulet to Lara.

Lara gripped the amulet quickly, "On three?"

"On three."

"1… 2… 3!" She began to run with Nate falling quick behind her. The further they got away from the dragon, the more rubble fell in hopes of squashing one of them. It struck them that the dragon held the cave with its back, and now that its life was being taken away from it, it no longer would be there to keep that side of the cave in tact. It was a difficult situation to deal with considering they had to run fast enough to make it out the double doors.

As they began to approach them, Lara quickly jumped out into the other room. The cave's rubble fell quicker, and Nate forced himself to slide out into the room and make it out, but not without letting a small yelp escape him. A rock had managed to trap his foot. Lara looked over to him and realized the only light now was of their flashlights again; the torches were now burnt out. She kneeled down and sighed softly, "Oh, shit."

The cave's damp darkness didn't help matters when Nate let out a vicious groan of pain. The rock that had took hold of his ankle had no intentions of letting him leave, and while he let out winces and whines, Lara had stuck by his side and attempted to give him support. She grabbed a knife out of her sheath and gave him a look as to indicate she was about to use it to get the rock off, considering she needed some leverage to help her with it.

"Calm down," she told him, "I'm getting you out of this. Just calm down."

She slid the knife's blade under the rock then, in which Nate wanted to jerk away but kept himself from moving as to ease his fears. He started to watch her slowly lift the rock away from his ankle, though it was somewhat painful, he was able to move his leg away and have full control again. He let out a heavy breath and Lara put her knife away, gesturing for him to follow her out of the cave. She realized part of her felt as if this were her fault, but she tried to push that down and forget about it.

Maybe if she had let him go first or something, that wouldn't have happened. Regardless, she saw he was limping after he got up and attempted to walk. She stopped quickly and ran over to Nate's side, helping him walk since he was limping so bad. Eventually, they had made it out of the cave together, and Lara let Nate sit down for a moment as they sat at the entrance of the cave.

"That _hurt,_" Nate let out, starting to rub at his ankle before laughing softly, "But at least we got the damn amulet, huh?"

Lara looked at the amulet she had taken from the man earlier and smiled softly, "We did…"

Nate looked up at her, happy to see she was smiling, regardless of his injury and what had happened to the dragon. Lara put her hand out to Nate then, helping him back up to his feet, "Let's go get those drinks, huh?"


	4. Stories of the Past

**NOTE: Uncharted and Tomb Raider do not belong to me, this is just an AU for fun. Thanks for reading :)**

* * *

Lara, Nate, and their respective crews all had traveled into Moscow when their small adventure was over. They needed some rest before going home and travelling again. Sleeping in a hotel felt like heaven to most of them after having to sleep in the village, but on their last night in Russia, Lara and Nate had finally took each other up on their offers. Tonight, they were at the hotel's bar.

Lara took a sip of her mixed drink before giving a sigh of relief, relaxed and happy to have found the amulet. She looked over to Nate and smiled softly, "I'm guessing you're looking at me like that because it's story time?"

"I was under the impression that was why we were here," Nate joked, gripping onto the bottle of beer he had with a small fit of laughter. He had been curious on hearing more from her, so it was obvious why he wanted to go ahead and start their exchange of stories.

She nodded in return, "Well… you tell me yours and I'll tell you the rest of mine."

"Under one condition."

"And what's that?"

"We gotta tell everything. Nothing left out. Or at least tell everything we're comfortable with sharing," he explained, starting to tap the side of his bottle in a fidget. Lara gave him a playful, annoyed sigh. She agreed to his terms. They weren't exactly unreasonable. Nate flashed her a toothy grin and decided to speak again, "Alright then. El Dorado first. It started when I was looking for Sir Francis Drake's coffin…"

* * *

Their story telling session went well. Nathan had told Lara about his findings of El Dorado, Shambhala, Iram (Atlantis of the Sands), and Avery's treasures. He mentioned some other smaller finds as well, but by that time he had slowed himself down in order to stop and let Lara tell about hers. Lara returned the favor by telling her own discoveries of Kitezh, Paititi, and other finds. For the most part, it consisted of smiles and interested questions. Though other times the two took a pause; they had said they wouldn't share what they were uncomfortable with, but the stories felt incomplete without telling everything. They both recalled times they didn't want to remember again.

By the time they were done, Nate had thanked her for sharing the stories, but part of him wanted to tell her he felt bad about what happened in her past. He had flashbacks of reading her blog and remembering all of the people that had died on the island she had been shipwrecked on. When she had told him about Trinity and everything linked to the organization, he felt he needed to say sorry.

"I'm really sorry you lost all those people," he finally said, "I know how that feels. To lose someone you care about."

Lara nodded and sighed, "Yeah…" She pursed her lips and looked down at her glass while she thought back on everything she had told him. She had told him about Trinity, and how they killed her father. She had told him that Trinity was the reason so many of the people she grew to care about died. The only thing she hadn't told him about was Sam. She wasn't ready for that yet, she still wasn't over what happened to her. Though she was still surprised over herself for opening up to Nate. She figured it was because he had went through similar experiences. They both had to deal with creatures, goons, and treasures. Lara never thought she would find someone, especially an archeologist or treasure hunter, who would ever relate to her in such ways. After he had opened up to her, she had felt she owed him in opening up herself.

The two of them knew there were things untold, but it didn't seem to bother them. They respected each other's boundaries, and they had asked for expedition stories anyway, not life stories. Nate brought the beer bottle up to his lips and took a sip, when he had set the bottle back down on the counter, he sighed softly. "I shouldn't have said anything. Sorry," he said lowly, realizing he probably upset her. He didn't mean to do that, but her reply felt burnt out and without any energy. He worried that he had done or said something wrong.

"It's fine, Nate," Lara reassured him, "I know you mean well."

He cleared his throat and finished off his beer, "Well… even though I could sit here for hours more telling and listening to stories… I should probably hit the hay. Early flight, you know."

"Didn't your friend fly you here?"

"He did," Nate smiled, "He likes to leave early just to be a pain in my ass." The man got to his feet then. He realized he couldn't leave Lara with a "goodbye," and only a "goodbye." He liked her company, and they had shared too much with one another to just not see each other again. He suddenly grabbed a napkin from the bar's counter and snatched a pen from his pocket, writing down his number before handing it to Lara. "Here. So we could keep in touch. In case, ya know… you'd wanna work together again," he explained.

Lara looked at the napkin, a smile creeping upon her face as she nodded in response. She put her hand out to him, "Thank you." He gripped her hand and the two of them shook hands as a way to close their little deal.

Nate had pulled away from her, "Goodnight, Lara."

"Goodnight, Nate," Lara replied, watching him slip away to his room as she finished her drink.

* * *

Sully and Nate were at a bar & grill to grab a bite to eat. As they waited for their food, Nate was sketching in his journal like he normally did in this type of situation. Sully looked outside the window and took a sip of his scotch, watching a woman walk by that talked with her friend. Though Nate didn't look up, he seemed to know what Sully was doing. "Take a picture, it'll last longer," Nate said.

"You judgin' me, kid?" Sully cackled, looking back over to the other. His eyes caught glimpse of the unfinished sketch, in which he realized it was a woman that Nate was drawing. He remembered when Nate used to draw Elena, Chloe, and Marisa. Though he had some ground for drawing them all; he had actually formed some kind of relationship with them. He had only spent a few days with Lara. Sully sighed, "You know it's been two months since we left Russia, don't you?"

"I do. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're drawin' a girl who you'll probably never see again," Sully let out, "I hope you're not having a crush on this girl."

Nate looked up and set his pencil down. Why did drawing someone mean he had a crush on them? He simply let a laugh escape him in response to Sully's accusations, "I was gonna draw her when we _were_ in Russia. But ya know… amulet screwed that up."

His partner squinted at him suspiciously, "You sure, kid?"

"She's pretty. She has a good face to draw," Nate told him with a grin, "Can you let a starving artist live?"

Almost on cue, the waiter had arrived back with their food. He had set their dishes down and wished them to enjoy their meals, walking off to tend to another table. Sully grabbed his fork and knife and started cutting at his steak, "Well, you sure as hell ain't starvin' now."

Nate closed his journal and nodded in response. He picked up his burger and took a bite of it before looking back to his friend, changing the subject of their conversation. He decided he needed to tell Sully about what their next potential hunt could be. "So… I've been doing some research," he started, though he wasn't able to finish when Sully had interrupted him.

"Ah, geez, kid," Sully murmured, taking a bite of his steak, "I don't know if I'm even ready for another one of your little adventures."

"I think you'd like this one."

"I like any of 'em that involve some cash on the side," Sully reminded the younger.

Nate nodded, "I know… but this one involves something more like… oh, I don't know… getting rid of those wrinkles of yours."

Sully made a face then. What was Nate trying to hint at? Part of him had an idea, but he didn't want to say anything just yet. He pursed his lips and leaned back, "The hell are you talkin' 'bout, kid?"

"I'll give you a hint: it involves a fountain."

The elder's eyes widened then. He set down his fork and opened his mouth for a moment, wanting to say something, but eventually kept in his silence. What Nate was suggesting seemed almost ridiculous, but he had to admit it was right up their alley.

Nate decided to continue on explaining, "Look, Sully… I know the Fountain of Youth is one of the biggest myths there is… but I think there might be some ground to it."

"What the hell makes you say that?"

"Do you remember when we went to Peru?" Nate asked.

Sully crossed his arms, "Yeah, how can I forget having a run-in with infamous archeologist Julio Victor."

There was a silence between the two of them before Nate awkwardly slid his journal back over to him, pulling out a piece of paper that stuck out between the pages. He handed it over to Sully and smiled, "I might've snagged something from him."

"How'd you get this?"

"Victor's own men shot him up, I don't think he needs it anymore," Nate laughed, "Look what's on it though."

The paper had a map printed on it with scribbles, something in Spanish that he couldn't quite make out. What he could make out, however, was the location that was circled on the map. The state of Florida was circled with the written caption of "Melbourne?" Under the text, there were symbols that held in a pattern.

Sully looked up to Nate, "How do ya know this is meaning the fountain?"

"There's a tourist attraction called the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine," Nate replied, "I'm thinking it has something to do with that."

Sully handed the paper back over to Nate, who tucked it into his journal once again. "That's a stretch, kid," he murmured, "But I guess everything we do is a stretch."

Nate grinned, "So, what do ya say?"

"Ah, why the hell not? No harm in tryin'."

The younger perked, happy to hear Sully was on board with his idea. Now he just had one more person to convince for their trip to Florida. He hoped she wasn't busy. "But," Nate said, "There's a catch."

"What's that?" Sully asked.

"I wanna ask Lara to do it with us."

"You got her number?" Sully was surprised, even somewhat impressed, by Nate's accomplishment. A sigh came from Nate though, shaking his head in response to Sully's question.

He took a few bites out of his burger before replying, "I gave her my number, actually."

Sully raised a brow, "Then how are you gettin' a hold of her?"

"She called me after we got home from Russia," Nate explained, "I saved her number."

There was a small silence as Sully began to think. There was no harm on the girl coming with them, even if Sully was suspicious of Nate's intentions. He shrugged and gave a laugh as he went back to his food as well. If Nate wanted to see the girl so badly again, why not let him see her? Maybe a new friendship would do him good, especially with how he was trying to shift his focus so much now.

"Go ahead," Sully said, "Call the girl, kid."


	5. Florida Blues

**NOTE: I do not own Uncharted, Tomb Raider, nor the characters of the franchises. They all belong to their owners.**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but it's summer so party. Hopefully I can update a bit more frequent now!**

* * *

Nate sat down on his apartment's couch and sighed softly. He realized he needed to call Lara now, but part of him was nervous in doing so. He was somewhat excited to think about working with her again, considering the stories he had heard from her. If they had went on a legitimate expedition together, then he could see her in her full glory. The thought of that made him ecstatic, but the thought of her saying no to his offer made him quite the opposite.

He looked over his flip phone and made a face, "God, what if she's busy? She's probably busy." He pursed his lips, starting to fumble with the phone in his hands. His thoughts over what could happen began to flood over in his mind, though he suddenly shook his head and decided to get over that bridge. He opened the flip phone up and found Lara's contact, his thumb hovering over the call button before finally pressing it. He put the phone up to his ear and listened to the rings.

With the rings came Nate's counting of them. After the third ring, Lara had picked up the phone. "Hello?" she let out.

"Hey, Lara," Nate replied, "Ah, it's Nate."

"I figured that from the caller ID," Lara laughed, "What is it?"

He paused to think over what he needed to say before he responded, "It's about working together."

The other line seemed silent, though Lara finally decided to say something after what seemed like forever. "Yeah? Can you elaborate please?" she asked, curious on what he was offering.

Nate leaned back on the couch and started to tap his fingers against his leg. He let out a heavy breath before chuckling lowly. "I think I might have a lead on where the Fountain of Youth is," he said, "I guess I just wanted to know if you wanted to check it out with me."

"The Fountain of Youth?"

"I managed to find something. It points to Florida," he quickly caught himself when he remembered St. Augustine, "I'm not trying to lure you on a date to the fake one, I swear." He laughed a little bit and got to his feet then, starting to pace around his small living room. He wasn't sure if Lara was really up to working with him again. He decided to push those thoughts away.

He could hear the soft breaths from Lara before she replied, "Well… send me an email on some of your research and we'll go from there."

"Yeah, will do."

"Alright," she murmured, "I'll talk to you later then, Nate." The two gave their goodbyes and hung up. Nate closed his flip phone and set it down on the coffee table, letting out a soft sigh and smiling somewhat. Next step was to email what he had and see where they would go from there.

* * *

_Two Weeks Later_

"I thought you said this wasn't a trap to lure me into a date," Lara laughed, walking with Nate around the Fountain of Youth Park. They had arrived in St. Augustine yesterday but had decided to settle into their hotel before actually doing anything drastic.

Lara had agreed Nate probably had a good start as to where the Fountain of Youth could be, but as of now, it seemed the two weren't really looking for it. Nate gave a playful smirk, "This isn't a date. I just thought it would be… _interesting _to look at the fake thing before seeing the real thing, don't you agree?"

His companion shook her head, looking around as they walked around the park. It was rather nice, she had to admit, and she couldn't lie and say she didn't like seeing peacocks walking around the park like they did. She walked alongside Nate on a path, "I guess it is nice to relax before having to actually do some work."

"See? You're coming around to the idea," Nate said, his eyes scanning the area for a moment. He was curious as to where the famous tourist trap was, though he had eventually caught sight of the sign that pointed them in the right direction. He pointed over to it then, "Hey, there's our little fountain." He grabbed at her wrist and started to gently pull her over with him to where the so-called fountain was.

Lara followed after quickly. When she looked around for a split second, she realized that she hadn't been in a place like this in quite some time. Memories raced after her thoughts, and she felt bombarded by remembering times of when she and Roth would go to the local park together. She tried to shake that feeling away, noticing they had walked inside a building. Her eyes saw a small "fountain", which was actually what looked to be a hole in the ground with a spigot. Behind the fountain was a showcase of mannequins that looked to be recreating the scene of Ponce de Leon allegedly finding the mythical spring.

She looked to Nate and gave a joking smile, "This isn't what I pictured the Fountain of Youth to look like."

"I think the real thing will bring a lot more… oomph," he replied, stepping over to the water hole. He shook his head. "Should we take a drink?"

"I don't know, wouldn't want to turn into a child right here," Lara said playfully, "And it smells a little like sulfur." Nate had to agree with her there. He nodded in response, deciding to take a look around the room. He had to admit he wasn't too impressed by the place, though he began to walk around with Lara, almost inspecting the room. Part of him wanted to come here because he thought, just maybe, there could be some kind of clues that Victor had left. Maybe Victor had came here before he discovered whatever it was that made him believe the path was in Melbourne.

While Nate focused on inspecting the place more than anything, Lara was admiring the friendly theme of the attraction. Remembering Roth earlier only made her remember her parents, and that only led her into longing for that kind of relationship again. This attraction wasn't helping matters in how she felt.

Her companion had suddenly broke her train of thought. "Oh, hey," he murmured, "I think someone dropped a souvenir coin or something." He noticed a coin that sat beside a trash can on the floor, bending down to grab it since his curiosity to see what it looked like came over him. When he had picked it up to see what the picture was on it, he raised a brow in realizing he recognized the symbol. He got back to his feet and held it out for Lara to see, "Never mind. Definitely not a souvenir."

"What is it?"

Nate stepped over in front of her so she could have a better look. "It's a service coin," he replied, "Or at least that's what I call it." He flipped the coin to the back and saw that the same symbol remained. "The archaeologist I told you about? Where I got that paper from? It's his own special contract," he joked, "He uses them to, ah, exchange services with someone. He takes the job, you take the coin." He started to play with the gold coin as he spoke, wanting to fidget. He let it slip in and out between each of his fingers.

Lara was confused. "Services? He's an archaeologist," she watched Nate play with the coin before she focused back onto his face, "What kind of services could he offer?"

"Treasure hunting is a business, Lara. People want money but not all people can find treasure," he replied. "Victor did the work for them and in exchange they would give him a cut of the money."

That made Lara nervous. If Victor had a deal with someone over finding the Fountain of Youth, then that would mean Nate and Lara could have a possible run-in with them. "So, what? They made the deal here?" she asked, "That isn't good for us, you know." She sighed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, a sign that she was starting to grow distressed in thinking on the situation.

Nate tucked the coin into his pocket, "Maybe. Victor's dead now. It's either the people stopped looking for it after they heard the news or they still want the fountain." He pursed his lips and suddenly had flashbacks of previous expeditions. If this was going to be anything similar to those, he figured whoever Victor's client was would choose the latter.

He clenched his jaw and looked back over to the fake fountain, shaking his head. That fountain would be the last easy find for awhile.

"Let's go back to the hotel," Lara suggested, "If there's really something in Melbourne we need to try and get there quickly."

"Do you think Victor might have told them already?"

She shrugged, though she figured that was most likely the case. If he did jobs like that, it would only make sense to fill in his clients on updates. "I don't know," she responded, "I just know we need to stop our leisure time now."

The next morning, at around 5 AM, Nate and Lara met up in Nate's hotel room. Lara had set her suitcase and duffel bag on his bed. "We have about a two hour drive there," she told him, looking to him with a raised brow, "Did you rent a car?"

"Yeah," he responded, "I'm gonna assume you got a Ring-A-Taxi from the airport."

Lara put her hands on her hips, "I _Ubered_ here, yes."

Nate was sitting at the desk of his room, he was leaning back in his chair and playing with his necklace. It wasn't _the _ring of Sir Francis Drake anymore, but it was his makeshift one he had made after losing the original. He gave a smirk and didn't seem to care what she had told him. "Uber. Lyft. Taxi. I don't care. All the same," he started, "But the drivers all give me the creeps. Better to just do it yourself."

The woman huffed, crossing her arms in response. Instead of trying to shoot back something in return, she let the feeling wash away. "Well, if you're so caught up on that idea, then you get to drive." Lara gestured for Nate to stand then, considering she wanted to leave now. Nate looked over to her and kept his same smile, getting to his feet as she had wanted.

He grabbed his bags and opened up the door to his room, letting her go before him as to be a gentleman of sorts. Lara got her own bags and walked out with him. When they had checked out and reached the parking lot, Nate had guided Lara over to a Jeep Wrangler. He put his bags in the back and let Lara do the same. Eventually, they settled into their respective seats and found themselves on the road to Melbourne.

* * *

After around two hours, they had made it to their destination. Nate had pulled up into a wooded area a few miles away from the supposed landing of Ponce de Leon, as the paper he had stolen from Victor had given some directions on it that were written in Spanish. He stopped the engine of the jeep and looked to Lara.

"Ready?" he asked.

Lara nodded, getting out of the vehicle and opening up the back doors. She grabbed her duffel bag and unzipped it. She grabbed a handgun out of her bag, along with its magazine, and messed around with it for a moment before it was ready for use. Nate turned around in his drivers seat and watched her do this, though he soon opened up the glove box and grabbed his own gun that he had stashed. They both brought them just in case.

Nate got of the car and tucked his gun away in the back of his pants. Lara had decided to carry hers. He grabbed the piece of paper that he had snatched from Victor out of his pocket, looking it over again as he walked beside Lara. "There isn't really anywhere specific," he said, "All I know is that it should be somewhere around here." He sighed and put the paper back into his pocket.

She nodded in response. The two had walked with one another for a few minutes and talked about their expectations of the Fountain of Youth to keep themselves busy as they tried to find anything. When Nate had laughed at something Lara had said, he suddenly stopped in his tracks to see what was ahead of them. He had walked a little bit ahead of Lara, and he backed up and shoved her back behind a large tree.

She went to open her mouth, but Nate put his finger over his lips to tell her to be quiet. He grabbed at his gun and this made Lara grip onto hers more seriously. She realized that Victor's clients must have beaten them there.

Nate peeked behind the tree and scanned the area. Ahead of them were groups of men in uniform, along with military grade equipment. They were surrounding something that looked to be a cave, though on top of the entrance were symbols that matched the ones Nate had remembered Victor wrote down. He pursed his lips, his eyes catching sight of some crates that sat on the ground with the men. One crate he noticed had a symbol he had never seen, though the crate that was stacked on top of it he knew very well.

"Shoreline?" he said lowly.

Lara made a face, "What?" She peeked at the scene on the other side of the tree, seeing they were dealing with people who knew what they were doing. Her eyes saw the crates too, and she too noticed a symbol that she recognized, and one she did not. "Trinity?" she whispered in shock. The two of them leaned back against the tree again.

"Who the hell is Trinity?" Nate asked her.

"Who is Shoreline?" she shot back.


	6. Captured

**I don't own any of this other than the plot and original characters. Thanks!**

**A/N: So... a quicker upload than usual because I randomly got inspired to write at like 1 AM last night LOL. Hope you guys enjoy, you're all awesome!**

* * *

"Okay, I think we have to admit we were pretty spotty in our story session," Nate whispered. He peeked out from the tree again to check on the situation before he looked back to Lara. "But they _were_ treasure hunting stories, so we focused on the treasure hunting parts, yeah?"

Lara wasn't amused by his reasoning. She tried to think on what they could do in order to get to the entrance of whatever the cave was. She figured the best way would be to sneak around the soldiers. "We'll have to get around them," she told Nate.

The other nodded in response, sighing before he tried to think on that. There were some bushes around for them to hide in, but he felt as if that were their only shot. "Okay," he replied, quickly scattering to one of the bushes he had seen. Lara watched him and then did the same, going to a bush on her side of the tree. When they had gotten into their respective hiding spots, the two were caught up in their own thoughts over how to handle the situation.

_If I manage to take down some of the soldiers quietly then that can give us an open spot,_ Lara thought, trying to think of a plan that involved less shooting. She suddenly wished she had her bow and arrow, considering it was a silent killer. However, she realized she would have to work with what she had.

_Alright, kill some guys. Be sneaky. Got it, _Nate thought. His mind was set on a similar plan as Lara's, only simplified and not as planned out. Regardless, he knew getting noticed would be a bad idea for either of them, so he would try his best to remain hidden. When he had noticed one of the soldiers walking dangerously close to his hiding spot, he gritted his teeth and tried to see if any of the others were looking that way. He decided that he was safe, and he quickly grasped the soldier and pulled him down, managing to snap his neck in the process. With the body hidden from the others, Nate was quite proud of his work.

Lara had made progress on her end as well, killing a soldier and hiding him in the bush. She moved on to another nearby bush and made sure to snap a twig so someone would check it out. Upon hearing the twig's snap, a soldier looked in the direction Lara was hiding.

"I'll go check it out," he reassured the others, grasping his gun tightly and walking over. He stopped at the bush looked around, figuring it was most likely just an animal. "We're clear," he waved off the soldiers, and the others tended back to their work. He went to walk off, though was stopped when Lara had grabbed on to his gun from behind and brought it up to his neck. She had managed to kill him as well, hiding his body in the bush she was hiding in.

She sighed softly. If they were really going to be able to pull off this plan, the other soldiers might start noticing the lack of their coworkers. She had noticed that Nate took down another guy, and she quickly moved on to another bush. This one was much closer to the cluster of soldiers than the other ones had been.

"Shit," a soldier said, throwing a cigarette onto the ground and stomping it out. "Why the hell is it taking them so long down in that thing?"

"Don't know," another replied.

"If there really is anything down there to do with the fountain, you really think it's gonna be anything like they say in the movies?" the soldier from before asked, starting to pace around. Lara listened in on their conversation rather intently suddenly. She wondered if the would maybe say something about what was going on here.

The soldier's friend laughed. "Man, all I know is that I'm excited for our cut. The money's gotta be huge," he said, shaking his head with a smile. The two agreed on that, and they patted each other's backs in unison.

Meanwhile, Nate had managed to scurry over to a bush that was closer to the cluster as well. He had heard a conversation similar to that of what Lara had heard. The soldiers were in the dark just as much as Nate and Lara was about what could possibly be down in the cave.

Nate shifted his weight somewhat, the squatting position he took starting to become uncomfortable. He wondered if Lara had any idea where this was going. At that point, he hadn't seen her move much, and he wondered if she was doing that on purpose. He decided to follow her lead and stay put.

"We found something!" a female called out, running out of the cave. Her voice seemed to have a weary feeling to it though. That worried both Lara and Nate.

"Well? What is it?" a soldier called out, though he stopped, suddenly feeling the ground rumble. "Where the hell is our soldiers?"

The woman turned around to look, and a few of the soldiers had managed to run out. A soldier at the end of the line was holding something. When he had reached the exit, he and a few others were soon buried in rubble. Luckily, the soldier had lost grip of the item and dropped it, in which it rolled over to the woman's feet. The woman quickly grabbed it and gave a heavy breath, "I think we need to leave."

The ground kept rumbling. At the entrance of the cave-in, it looked like the ground was starting to slowly split apart. Lara looked out of the bush and her eyes widened. She realized they would have to get out of hiding in order to not get themselves hurt. She shot out of her bush and started to stumble away from where the ground was splitting.

Nate had noticed Lara and got out of his hiding spot. He ran over to Lara and grabbed onto her arm, "What's happening?"

"I- I don't know," she murmured, considering it felt odd and abrupt for such a thing to happen. Considering the soldiers had just came out of the cave with something in their possession, she figured it had something to do with that.

A soldier turned around, catching himself from falling. He looked up to see the two. "Who the _hell_ are they?!" he pointed over at them and the remaining soldiers caught sight of the pair. "Get them and get into the trucks, now!"

Nate and Lara looked at each other before they had went to run off. They had no time to be shooting at the soldiers, considering they were worrying about the split in the ground coming closer to them. It seemed the soldiers didn't have time for shooting either. A group ran after the pair, others quickly loading up into trucks as told.

"Shit!" Nate called out.

Lara looked behind them as they ran into the woods, "They're right on us."

He looked back and agreed. They kept running since they had no other choice. The soldiers weren't going to give up, the two knew that very well from past experiences. When Nate had finally focused his attention back to the track ahead of him, he realized it was too late when he slammed into a tree. He fell back and his hands went to his nose, cursing as he groaned in pain. Lara stopped in her tracks and saw what the other had done. Without hesitation, she turned back for him. She was too kind hearted to just leave him there to deal with the soldiers by himself.

She kneeled by him and grabbed his hand, "Come on, Nate. We have to go. Now."

"My face hurts."

"Nate-" she was cut off when a soldier had snatched onto her arm. She tried to wiggle herself free but her lame attempts were futile. She huffed and stopped with her trying. Two other soldiers had grabbed Nate on either side and picked him, making him get to his feet.

"We got them!" the soldier holding Lara called out. They began to quickly go back to their original post, walking the pair into a truck. The soldier who had Lara threw her onto the bench and growled before he himself had gotten in as well. Nate was thrown in after her, and he stumbled onto his feet to sit down next to the woman. The other soldiers climbed in, and the one who had Lara walked to the front of the truck bed. He grabbed a rope and came back to the prisoners, tying them up to make sure they wouldn't do anything. He snatched their weapons from them as well. "You won't be needing these."

Nate groaned and leaned his head back. Not only was his nose bleeding, but now he had to deal with being held hostage. He definitely didn't think he would have to deal with that today.

By the time the truck had started moving, the situation with the ground had managed to solve itself. It was no longer rumbling nor was it splitting. Lara looked around the soldiers and tried to figure out what to do. When nothing came to her, she sighed and fell limp against the wall.

Lara and Nate woke up with bags over their heads. There was a vague memory of being knocked out when the truck had stopped, so the pair were now hopeless in knowing where they were. Nate gave a heavy breath, slowly lifting his head in hopes that someone would take off the sacks that sat upon their heads.

In the distance, he heard a door creak open. Then, the sound of footsteps approaching. When the sounds had stopped, the bags were snatched off the man and woman's heads. Nate squinted at the bright light of the room. Lara squeezed her eyes shut.

* * *

"Hello, sleepy heads," an Australian accent rang out. It was a man, but both of their visions were too blurry to see him yet. Their eyes were still trying to adjust to the light. "Now, _this_ is something I never thought I would see: Lara Croft being a team player."

Lara blinked quickly, trying to clear her vision up. She scrunched her face when the man had gripped her chin, making her look at him. She squinted since he had made her eyes see the bright lights on the ceiling, though she quickly blinked again. Eventually, she found herself being able to see the new man clearer.

His right eye was covered by a bandage. He was clean shaven and had slicked back hair. He had scars on his face. He wasn't anybody she recognized.

"Isn't that something, Ross?" the man asked, looking over to another.

Nate's vision had managed to clear up as well. He looked over to the other person that accompanied the man and his eyes widened in seeing her. Though he shouldn't have been surprised due to seeing her men, he still found himself in shock. "Nadine?"

"Shut it, Drake," she growled at him, grabbing a handful of his hair and making him look at her. She narrowed her eyes. "You were half the reason most of my men died last time. Remember that?" She laughed a little bit and shook her head. "How do you think I felt when you managed to come back into my grasp like this?"

"Who the hell are you?" Lara spat out, shaking her head out of the Australian's hand. Nadine let go of Nate's hair and backed off. She crossed her arms and decided to let the other speak for the both of them.

"Right. You wouldn't know me, would you?" the man laughed. "Leo White. And this is my partner, Nadine Ross." He paused, pursing his lips before he had put his hands on his hips. He seemed to act dignified in his mannerisms. "I'm the leader of Trinity, Ms. Croft. Ross controls Shoreline, our partnering organization at the moment."

Lara made a face. She was confused as to how he was the leader. "But I killed-"

"Did you really think Trinity would be over after you killed Dominquez?" Leo smirked, finding her logic quite amusing and almost innocent. "Oh, Lara. We've been operating since before Christ. Did you not think we had precautionary measures put into place?" Lara remained silent, as did Nate. Neither of them knew what to say. Leo decided to break the silence again. "I was Dominquez's successor."

Nadine looked between Nate and Lara then, raising a brow. "Now, tell us why you two were working together," she demanded. Nadine had only heard of Lara through what Trinity had told her. She was still very much seen as a threat. She somewhat expected for Lara to pop up if she did, but not Nate. She thought Nate had finally stopped this business, but even then, it wasn't like she exactly kept up with him.

Nate gritted his teeth but decided he would speak for the two of them. "What do you think?" he asked sarcastically. Nadine growled, a sign for the other to give a proper answer. Nate sighed, "Me and Lara met a while ago on another find."

"And?" Nadine glared.

"_And_ we had a lead on the fountain. Not hard to figure out."

Leo snatched a paper out of his pocket then and smirked, holding it up for the two of them to see. It was the same paper Nate had in his own pocket earlier. "Familiar?"

Nate furrowed his brows, "Crap."

Leo nodded and let the paper fall to the ground. "Now, how on God's green earth did you manage to get that? I know Victor didn't just hand it to you," the man said, walking in front of Nate. He bent down and raised a brow, "Of course, I'm not very familiar with your methods as much as I am with Croft's, but I'm interested to hear the story."

"The long one or the short one?"

Leo stood up straight, looking at his watch. He grumbled, stepping back over next to Nadine. "Let's keep it short," he told him.

"Okay. Long story short, Victor got shot up by his own men and I got the paper. Happy?"

Nadine nodded, though she gave somewhat of an amused smile. Nate suddenly grew confused. She placed a hand on her hip, "Adds up. Except Victor wasn't shot by his own men."

Nate squinted, "I saw it happen."

"Those were our soldiers undercover. Looks can be deceiving," Nadine said. She started to put her hair up as she spoke, pacing around. "Victor was going to run off and try and get the fountain himself. We couldn't let that happen. On the bright side, we got any research he did," she let out, finishing up with her hair.

Lara looked to Nate before she glanced back over to the others. "And the research was… Melbourne?" Lara asked.

"Correct," Leo replied. He walked back over to Lara and smirked, poking her nose playfully. "You are such a smart woman, you know that? Oh, I could just eat you up." Nadine watched the interaction and scrunched her face up. "But yes, all Victor had going was Melbourne. But for once, we're a step ahead. We found something leading us to Polynesia. Now," he bent down in front of the woman, similar to how he had done with Nate, but this time closer to her face. "You and loverboy are going to stay here and my men will sort you out."

Lara kept her lips from trembling. She thought Trinity was finally over. She thought she wouldn't have to deal with the torture anymore. She narrowed her eyes and suddenly her feelings overcame her, spitting in his face. Leo closed his eyes and pursed his lips. He cackled and stood back up, wiping off her salvia. "Fuck you. And Trinity," she breathed out.

Leo hummed in return. He turned around and waved for Nadine to follow him out of the room. "Trinity is making history, Lara. Trinity is appeasing God!" he laughed, closing the door behind him when the pair had finally left.

Nate looked to his feet, letting his head dip down. That little statement Leo had said made him confused, though he shook it off. "Lara, we have a lot of explaining to do," he joked, giving her a weak laugh. "God, my head hurts."

"Later, Nate," she sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. She was trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. She was lost and confused. All she knew was that they needed to escape now. She tilted her head back and groaned in irritation. She was frustrated, but she tried to push down her feelings about Trinity until later. "We need to get out of here," she told him.

"How do you expect to do that?"

"God, I don't know," she grumbled. She looked over to him and narrowed her eyes. "I just know we need to go after Trinity. We can't let them get the fountain. We _have _to get out of here," she snapped at him. Nate gave her a look and furrowed his brows. He frowned at being snapped at, tensing up.

He cleared his throat, "Right. Wish I knew why Trinity was so important."

"Don't act like you told me about Shoreline."

"Don't be a bi-" he started, though he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. He sighed and realized he shouldn't be nasty towards her. If she had snapped, then it was probably for good reason. He shook his head, "Listen, let's just try and figure something out, okay?" His voice became much more gentle then.

Lara parted her lips, realizing what exactly had happened. "Sorry," she murmured. She gulped and looked forward, "When we get out of here, I'll tell you about Trinity. But we _need_ to leave now."

Nate's eyes scanned the room. He noticed the table to the side of them, which had differing tools and weapons. "Well… I'm gonna assume that's our torture devices," he told her with a laugh, shaking his head. He gave her a small smile, "Maybe we can get one of them… saw these ropes off." He didn't know any other ideas. He figured it was their best bet.

The woman nodded in agreement of the plan. "It's worth a try," she replied.


	7. Orb of Youth

**I do not own Uncharted or Tomb Raider, only the OCs and plot **

**A/N: Forgive my action scenes, I know they aren't the best! But... enjoy! It was pretty fun writing this chapter regardless!**

* * *

Nate found himself trying to scoot his chair closer to the table in order to grab something that could help him get out of the ropes he was tied up in. While he did such things, he tried to make conversation with Lara as to not make the situation as awkward. "Where do you think we are?" he asked, grunting as he wiggled his body again.

"Some kind of Trinity base."

"I figured that," he replied, feeling as if he were only a mere few inches away from the table then. He began to scoot back so his hands could grab hold of something. "Do you think we're still in Florida?"

Lara watched his movements, shaking her head as to answer his question. Part of her felt they definitely weren't in Florida anymore.

Nate had finally reached the table and was able to pick something up now. Lara leaned her head forward, as much as she could anyway, to see what he would grab. His hands struggled to find something but eventually he had picked up what felt like a survival knife of sorts. When he had realized it was a knife, he let an "awesome" slip out of his mouth. He started to cut at the ropes that tied his hands together the best he could.

"If we're going to get out of here, we need to get out of here without getting noticed," Lara told him.

"Sounds like a plan. Sure there's a vent we could crawl through."

Lara looked forward at the door, realizing what he had said was a joke. She tried to think more on this escape plan that, really, she didn't even have. As her thoughts started to crowd her head, there was a sudden remembrance of earlier events. "Nate, when they got out of that cave they had something with them," she said.

Nate squinted, his focus was on the ropes but he tried his best to keep his attention on her as well. "Yeah, but I didn't get a good look at it," he replied, gritting his teeth in frustration. He just wanted the damn ropes off. They were uncomfortable to hell and back.

It was quiet for a minute then until Nate had finally cut the ropes off his hands, grinning with a sense of relief. While still holding the knife in his hand, he took his free hand in between his thumb and index finger. "_That_… feels good," he laughed, bending down to free his feet. He knew this time it would be quicker since he could see what he was doing. When he had finally freed himself fully, he looked over to Lara and decided to lend her a friendly smile. "Alright, comin' to save ya," he joked.

He walked over to the woman and freed her hands first. Then, he freed her feet. Lara stood up and thanked him, making her way to the table. Looking over what was placed on it, she realized she wasn't interested in any of the tools. Sighing, she felt herself almost defeated, though walked over to the door. Nate on the other hand, looked over his new knife and shrugged, deciding on keeping it. He slid it into his boot and jogged up next to Lara.

She grabbed onto the handle and glanced over to Nate. "Do you think what they found would still be here?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"If they're going to Polynesia then we need to know _where_… whatever they found has to be what's leading them there," Lara mused, looking at the ground for a moment. She was lost in thought before she decided to come back to reality. "We have to try and find it."

Nate figured she was probably right. He nodded in response and Lara opened the door. Outside the room was a hallway with lights that flickered ever so often, making Nate feel anxious. The building they were in had concrete floors and cinder block walls. It wasn't very inviting.

The pair had stepped outside and began to walk along the hall, looking over the other doors they came across. There was no way to know which door would possibly have what they were looking for.

"You'd think this place would have labels," Nate whispered.

"What would they possibly label the door we're looking for?" Lara asked him.

Nate perked, suddenly silent. He tried to think about what she had asked but eventually gave up on the idea. "You got me there," he chuckled. Though they didn't know where their item would be, they figured it wasn't in the hall they were in. It had to be somewhere else. The two of them came up to a pair of double doors and opened them up, walking into a more open area.

It seemed to be the main "control" area of sorts, as there were monitors, equipment, and crates of what one would assume were full of weapons. Lara was surprised to see no one there, though in the back of her head she knew people would come back any second. She looked over to Nate, "If it's anywhere…"

"It's probably in here."

She nodded. Her eyes scanned the area and she saw a few wooden crates filled with cloth, differing from the heavy duty crates that filled the room. One wooden crate in particular caught her interest, as it looked like the cloth was covering something up. As soon as she went to walk over to them, her prediction of the people coming back came true.

"Polynesia? Really?" a woman asked, walking into the room with a man. The woman was part of Trinity, the man was part of Shoreline. Lara grabbed Nate's wrist and dragged him with her to hide behind a large storage crate.

"Yeah. Kinda crazy but apparently that's what the thing told 'em," the Shoreline soldier responded, sitting down on a foldout chair. The woman sat next to him, looking over her monitor. Lara wondered if anyone else would come in; if no other soldiers would appear, then Lara and Nate would be able to take these two down rather easily.

The woman's monitor popped up with some messages. In return, she began to enter commands. In other words, she was kept busy.

The soldier leaned back in his chair, "So, Stacy, was it?"

"Yes."

"You know Shoreline _just _started letting women join?"

The woman seemed confused. "But Ross is the leader—" she started, though the soldier put his hand up and laughed. He found the situation rather amusing himself.

He nodded, "Yeah, she is. She just started to make her own rules up. She was tryin' to be too much like her father."

Lara made a face as she listened to the conversation.

"I mean, I guess taking up an organization like Shoreline after your dad dies would be pretty hard to do," he continued. "I guess she was just tryna do her old man proud, don't you think?"

"I guess so," the woman replied.

Lara felt her stomach drop. That situation felt too close to her own. The words the soldier said started to run through her head: _she was just tryna do her old man proud._ A memory surfaced back to her in that moment, she squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth.

"_The myth of the prophet is real. Dad was right," Lara told Ana. Ana had just came in after Lara had found her apartment seemingly broken into. Lara figured whoever broke in was trying to steal her research. _

_Ana followed after Lara to her desk. Lara began to rummage through some papers on her coffee table, trying to find something. The older woman almost felt bad for her, looking around at the cork board full of papers. "Lara, your father was… unwell," Ana told the girl._

"_No," Lara said, her voice sure of what she was saying. She stopped rummaging with the papers, "He was close to a great discovery. Tangible evidence of the immortal soul." She leaned down, resting her hands on the coffee table since she couldn't find what she wanted._

"_I loved Richard," Ana suddenly said. She began to step forward towards the other, "I would have married him if he'd asked. But he was a broken man." Lara stopped doing what she was doing when Ana had said this. Ana was just her father's girlfriend. She didn't understand anything. She didn't understand what Lara was going through. Ana rested her hands on Lara's shoulders as the woman stood up straight. "I don't want to see you end up like him."_

_Lara sighed heavily, shaking out of Ana's grasp. "But Ana, he was right. It was everyone else that was wrong."_

She let a heavy breath escape her then. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she tried to shake off the feeling. Nate had noticed no one else had came in. Since Nadine and Leo had left, the majority of the soldiers probably went with them. He remembered Leo had said that some soldiers would take care of Lara and him, but Leo never said when. For all they knew, they had a few hours or a few minutes as far as when soldiers would actually start appearing.

"I feel bad for Ms. Ross," the one woman said. Nate peeked from their hiding spot and saw the two ahead of them at the monitors. "I mean, her poor mother… stories like that are the reason I work for Trinity."

"With the whole… divine shit?" the man replied.

Nate nudged Lara gently, squatting back down next to her. "What do you think? Should we get them?" he asked her. She looked up at him and nodded. It would be better to go ahead and get rid of them now while they still had an open chance.

The two of them got to their feet and quietly made their way to the pair. Nate grabbed onto the man's head and slammed it onto the keyboard. Lara had punched the woman with excessive force. Both of them managed to knock out their person.

Lara sighed, rubbing her knuckles as she turned to the wooden crates. "Let's try to hurry," she murmured, walking over to them. Nate followed after, letting Lara do the honors of taking the cloth away from the crate.

Swiping off the fabric revealed a golden sphere. Confused, Lara picked it up and looked it over. "A globus cruciger?" she said to herself, tracing her fingers across the cross that sat on top of the sphere. She tilted it a little and noticed an inscription that wrapped around the orb's body. Her eyes went up to Nate, "Well, not what I expected."

"Why the hell would Ponce de Leon have one of _those _things?" he questioned, his face scrunching up in perplexity. That didn't connect. He wondered if Lara had any ideas.

Lara shrugged. Puzzled, the two of them kept their eyes on the royal orb. Nate squinted and leaned over to have a closer look, pointing at the inscription. "Lara," he smiled, starting to laugh in a sense of relief. "Those are coordinates."

"What?" She brought the sphere closer to her face, her nose wrinkling up as she looked at the numbers inscribed on the orb. Nate gently patted her back, though he pulled away and put his hands over his face.

"Holy crap," he let out, his hands sliding off his face then. He was somewhat shocked. "Guess we'll find out where in Polynesia now."

Lara gripped the globus cruciger tighter, almost protectively, as she looked to her side. She was eyeing the other hall, where the man and woman had came from earlier. "Let's find the exit before someone finds us," she suggested.

Nate's eyes travelled over to their unconscious victims. "Let's get protected first," he proposed in return. The two of them walked over to the man and woman, grabbing the handguns that they had equipped. Lara stepped into the new hallway with Nate.

While they walked, Lara played with the royal orb in her hand. She tucked the gun away into the waistband of her pants. Nate kept hold of his. Right when he was about to speak, he turned a corner that lead into another room, yet he quickly turned back on his heels with wide eyes. "Lara," he whispered. "I think I found the guys that was supposed to take care of us."

Lara perked, peeking around the corner to see a group of soldiers in the next room. She gulped and brought her attention back to her companion. "How many do you think there are?" she asked.

"I don't know. Ten?" he answered, unsure of himself. He was confused as to why there was such a large group. Especially since it seemed like they were waiting in that room for something, or _someone_. "Why would they need a group of soldiers to kill two tied up prisoners?"

"I don't think that's important right now."

"No, it is," he explained, furrowing his brows. "Don't you think that's overkill?"

"What does this—?"

"Nadine and that Leo guy _know _us," Nate whisper yelled, trying to get his point across. "They planned ahead," he fumbled with his gun a moment before sighing. Lara suddenly understood, and she realized it made sense. They did know them, they probably figured they would try to escape.

She looked down at the orb in her hand before nodding, starting to walk with him silently into the next room. The hid from the soldiers behind the concrete stairs that led to the upper level. To the left of them, the soldiers were talking about how Nadine and Leo had just left to go to Polynesia. Nate shifted, listening more closely. It was too late when he realized he had accidentally kicked a can across the floor.

"There they are!" a soldier shouted. The others gripped onto their weapons, a few started shooting almost immediately. Nate cursed under his breath, rolling over to gain cover at a wooden crate. He decided to let Lara have the concrete.

He peeked from his crate and aimed at one of the soldier's heads. Getting a headshot, he quickly aimed at another one's chest. With four bullets into the soldier's chest, he ducked back down to his cover. Lara managed to gain two headshots. Now, she was shooting a soldier in the leg. When he had screamed out in pain, she shot him twice in the chest, forcing him to collapse.

Nate noticed his crate was about done for from all the shooting. "Great," he groaned sarcastically, rolling over to see a soldier right next to him. He jumped up and managed to sucker punch him in the nose before he could shoot. Growling, the soldier tried to punch back. Nate dodged, laughing somewhat cockily before the soldier had kicked him in the shin. "Ow! Ow!" he yelped, grabbing onto his shin before he gritted his teeth. He stopped hopping and snatched the soldier's assault rifle, slamming the butt of the gun into his face. The soldier stumbled back, and Nate shot him multiple times in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground.

With a new gun, Nate felt more confident than before. He found new cover and began to shoot at some more men. Lara looked over to him before she had felt a sudden punch in her stomach. She grunted, though her grip on the orb remained. Her eyes caught sight of a larger man in front of her. "Nate!" she yelled, gaining his attention. "Catch!" She threw the globus cruciger across the room, in which the other managed to catch. Proud of that, Nate returned to dealing with the others while protecting the orb.

Lara ducked down and slid between the man's legs, leaving him to be vulnerable for a split moment. When Lara got back to her feet, she landed a kick square in his stomach before pushing him onto the ground. Surprised a small girl like Lara had brought him down, the man looked up at her with wide eyes. "Bastard," she said under her breath, bringing her foot down onto his crotch. As he moaned in pain over the stomp, she grabbed her gun and quickly shot him in the head.

She ran over to Nate, who had shot the last guy. Almost in unison, the two said, "Let's go."

Sprinting into the following room, they saw what they assumed was the exit of the building. In front of the door were four more soldiers that waited for their arrival. Annoyed, Lara stepped forward and raised her gun. Taking aim, she was able to land a headshot on each soldier. Nate stood impressed. "Whoa—" he started, though Lara grabbed him and began to run before he could finish.

Outside, they were met by a parking lot that held trucks and vans owned by the organizations. To the right, there were a few normal looking cars that seemed the best bet for the two of them. Nate noticed the barbed wire fence that wrapped around the parking lot, growing uneasy. The two of them ran over to a beige vehicle.

Lara looked over to the back of another car, "Nate, they have UK license plates."

Nate didn't seem to be listening. He opened up the car door and climbed in. Lara followed after. When Nate shut the door and had set the assault rifle and orb down to grab the steering wheel, he was in shock to not see one. He saw it was on Lara's side. "That should be over here," he pointed out.

"I told you they had UK license plates," Lara argued, grabbing onto the steering wheel. Nate looked up to see more soldiers running out of the building. "Shit," the woman murmured. "Keys. Keys. Where's the keys?" She looked around and flapped the sun visor down, the keys flying out by luck. She fumbled with them, dropping them onto the floor when failing to stick them into the ignition correctly. "Shit!"

"Lara!" Nate yelled, considering soldiers were starting to shoot at the car by now.

Lara ducked down and snatched the keys, sticking them into the ignition slowly this time to make sure they would go in. As soon as the car was ready, she slammed onto the gas and turned out of the main gate. They were driving onto a dirt road. Lara kept going fast, looking into the rear view mirror to see if anyone was there. After a few more glances in the mirror, she decided they were safe. They had driven far enough from the place that she no longer had to be driving so fast. She slowed down, her adrenaline calming down.

Nate leaned his head back, "That… was close."

"Too close."

"I'm sure it'll be close again," he joked, laughing breathlessly. He straightened himself up and looked forward before he decided to put his seatbelt on. Lara had saw what he did and decided to come to a stop for a moment. She slipped her own seatbelt on and nodded to the orb, her hands remaining on the steering wheel. Nate grabbed hold of it, "So… what was Ponce de Leon hiding?"

"Something with royalty," she murmured. She was just as lost as Nate.

The other set the orb down and looked out the window. He suggested for Lara to start driving again, in which she did, and the two were back on the road.


	8. Manor Thoughts

**Uncharted & Tomb Raider still don't belong to me **

**Note: This chapter is a little longer than usual. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying it!**

* * *

"Wake up, Nate," he heard. Lara was pushing at his arm, trying to wake him up. Nate grunted, his eyes starting to slowly open. He scrunched his face up in hearing Lara's soft voice. She was being gentle with him. "Come on, Nate. Wake up."

Nate sat up fully. He had fallen asleep during the car ride due to the headache he had. He yawned, stretching as he looked over the new surroundings outside the car. They looked to be driving through a small town at the moment. "Where are we?" he asked.

"England."

"What? _England?_"

Lara nodded. She turned onto a road that led them away from the town they were just in. Lara knew exactly where she was. Once she had figured out she was in England, she knew where to go. "We must have gotten onto a plane when they knocked us out," she explained.

Nate's brows raised. England was not a spot he planned for. "Where are we going?" he asked, realizing that Lara looked to be confident in her navigation.

"My home."

That made sense. For some reason, even with the British accent, he seemed to have forgotten she was from England. Inside his head, he was telling himself how stupid he was. "Right, right," he replied, tapping his fingers against his leg.

As they drove, Lara decided she would tell Nate what she had been thinking about as he was sleeping. "I have an idea," she told him.

"Shoot," he said.

"Well, my father did a lot of research on immortality," Lara explained, taking a deep breath. She tried not to remember the similar conversation she had with Ana. She didn't want to remember that again. "The Divine Source that I told you about in Kitezh, it gave people immortality."

"You said something about… a Deathless Prophet, right?"

Lara bit at her bottom lip, but eventually she told him he was right. She continued, "I was able to find it because of my father's research. He had looked so much into immortality and resurrection before he died… I didn't believe him until Yamatai."

"From what I remember you telling me… that Divine Source thing ended up being, ah," Nate tried to think of the right word, "Bad."

"It was. But… what I'm trying to get at is… my father might have research on the fountain. I didn't even look through half of his journals," Lara nodded to the orb then. "And when we get there, we can look at the coordinates more closely."

Nate felt that was a plan. After a few minutes of silent driving, he started to hum a lively tune. In the back of Lara's head, she heard the song's lyrics perfectly. She knew exactly what he was humming. "The Stones?" she asked, laughing softly. "God, I haven't listened to them in a long time…"

The other perked up and grinned in return. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a Rolling Stones fan," he joked with her.

"I used to listen to them all the time with—" she paused, her mind going to Roth. She used to listen to them all the time when Roth was around. She remembered they would do silly karaoke together, but only when they were alone, because neither of them could handle someone walking in on them doing such a thing. "With my old guardian," she finally said.

Nate made a face, "Guardian? I know your dad died… I didn't know—… that sucks, Lara."

"Mm. My mom died in a plane crash when I was little. After that, it was my father and I for awhile… and then, you know," she told him, surprising herself for even saying such things. Somehow, she managed to continue on. "My father left me with his best friend, Roth."

He flashed her a small smile. He was happy she at least had a better childhood than he did. At least someone took care of her. At least she wasn't dumped. "I'm sure he was a great guy. I'm guessing the Stones were his favorite?"

Lara nodded. "Yeah… we used to always listen to them whenever he played music," she smiled again. The fond memories trampled over the bad ones. "He played 'Start Me Up' _all _the time. I memorized the lyrics. It's why I pinpointed that so quickly," she laughed, circling back to his humming from earlier.

Nate looked forward, keeping the smile on his face before he had noticed what they were driving up to. They were driving up to a huge house. Mansion? Castle? Nate didn't know what to even call it. He just knew it was enormous. "Is… this your house?"

Lara hummed out a yes. She parked the car in the driveway area and got out. When she noticed Nate still hadn't moved because he was staring at the manor, she walked over to his side and slapped onto his window. He jumped, "SHIT—!"

"Come on," she giggled, gesturing for him to come out. He climbed out of the car and closed the door, following after the woman. His eyes were still glued on the building in front of him.

"Lara… I knew you probably had money because of your dad or whatever," he rambled, twirling around somewhat as he looked over everything. "But _this _is insane." Lara walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. She swayed as she waited for someone to answer. Nate looked over and raised a brow, though when a man had answered it, his lips parted in shock.

The man smiled gently. "Hello, Ms. Croft," he stepped to the side and opened the door wider for the two of them to come in. Lara and Nate walked into the manor, and the man closed the door after them.

"Hi, Winston." Lara began to take her ponytail out. "I'm a few days earlier than expected… we had some trouble," she joked dryly.

Winston didn't like the sound of that, but he decided not to dwell on it. "Is this that Drake fellow you were telling me about?" he asked, gesturing towards Nate. Lara nodded in response. Winston looked the man over, putting his hand out then. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

Nate was still dumbfounded by the interior of the manor. Eventually, he shook himself out of it and grasped onto Winston's hand, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Butler— I mean—" He laughed awkwardly and cleared his throat, shaking the other's hand before quickly pulling away. He wasn't used to this. He wasn't used to such a lavish lifestyle. He didn't know how to act.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Lara told them. She wanted to freshen up and go from there. "You can take one too, if you want, Nate. You should keep Winston company until then though," she smiled, nodding to her butler before she had slipped upstairs.

Winston decided to lead the other to the living room area. He ushered Nate to sit on the couch, and he did. Nate looked up at the open upper floor above. He admired the picture of the large compass that covered the middle of the floor. He noticed a door in between the two staircases that led up to either side of the halls above. Winston began to talk. Nate heard him say something about this being called the Grand Hall.

Nate was too awestruck to really pay attention to any words being said. His admiration of the architectural design of the manor filled him with glee. He realized maybe his artistic side had taken over too much. He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled to Winston. "Sorry, it's just… I wasn't expecting this is all," he laughed, shaking his head. "I hadn't been in a place like this that _wasn't _run down before, so this is a first for me."

Winston folded his hands behind his back as he stood at the side of the couch. He understood the other. He wasn't mad in the slightest. "That's quite alright, Mr. Drake. May I ask what you and Lara have gotten into?"

"Oh… well… someone else is looking for the fountain too. Um… long story short, they kidnapped us and now we're in England?" Nate added the question mark at the end because he wasn't sure how involved Lara had Winston in all of this. Winston simply nodded in return. Nate figured he didn't have to say much more.

The butler thought for a moment before making another inquiry. "How well do you know Mistress Lara, Mr. Drake?"

For some reason, Nate was taken aback by that question. He didn't answer for a few minutes, but finally he came up with something. "Uh, not long. We met when she went to Russia. Why?"

"I'm just surprised she's doing this with _you _and not her friend, Jonah, is all."

"Oh! Heh… I asked her to work with me is why," he laughed, leaning back on the couch. The couch was rather comfortable. He realized he had never been on such a comfortable couch.

Winston stopped with his questioning then. Before he left, he told Nate he would be tending to other duties around the manor. Nate was left alone in the Grand Hall, and now he could explore. Getting to his feet, he walked over to a collage of pictures that were hung on the wall. He had eyed them earlier and were curious as to what they were.

There was a picture of a little girl and her parents. Nate assumed it was of Lara. He leaned forward and looked it over more closely. He realized that they were in Egypt, and a smile fell upon him. _That must've been fun_, he thought to himself. He didn't get those same experiences. He moved on to the next picture.

This one showed a young Lara with who he assumed was Roth. In the back of his head, Roth reminded him of Sully. He wasn't sure why, but it kept with him. His eyes shifted to another picture. It was of Lara and her crew that went to Yamatai. Nate was surprised she hung it up since how traumatizing it seemed. He went to the next picture. Another photograph of Roth and Lara. The next picture was a photograph of Jonah and Lara.

He moved to the final three photos. One was of young Lara again, holding a painting up with a smile. Her canvas had a green Tyrannosaurus rex, a pyramid, and stick figures of Lara and her mother all side by side. Lara's mother stood next to her in the photograph, beaming as she held a canvas of her own. Her canvas had a beautifully painted landscape of the Egyptian pyramids. Nate gave a gentle smile. "You were a great artist, Mrs. Croft," he murmured, his fingertips tracing over the photo.

His eyes went over to the photograph next to it. A picture of young Lara and her father. Lara was grinning widely, holding up a gemstone. It looked like she had found it at a dig site. Her father crouched next to her with a smile. "Props to you for sticking around," Nate said to the dead man.

Finally, he looked over the last photograph of the collage. Another photo of the family all together. Lara held hands with both her parents. She seemed happy. Nate furrowed his brows and sighed heavily, pushing himself away from the wall of photos.

"_Nathan_,_" Sister Catherine repeated, standing in front of a young Nate that sat on his bed. Nate didn't want to look at her, his eyes remained on the ground. The nun didn't like this, she wanted the young teen to look at her. She grabbed onto his chin and gently lifted his head, "Nathan…" _

_Nate sighed, rolling his eyes in response. "What are we going to do with you?" Sister Catherine asked rhetorically, pursing her lips before she continued her speech. "You must be tired of these lectures. I know I'm tired of giving them. Now you have to stay here with me all weekend instead of going on the retreat with everyone else."_

"_I don't care," Nate murmured, his eyes shifting to look away from her. He looked out the window. The moon was pretty tonight, too bad he couldn't enjoy it. _

"_Yes, that is the crux of the problem," the woman turned and walked away, looking over the papers that hung on the wall._

"_I don't see why I'm the only one being punished—"_

_Sister Catherine narrowed her eyes and gave him a glare, "Because you started the fight."_

_The boy wasn't going to give up that easily. "He wouldn't give me back my book," he stated._

_Sister Catherine looked over the books on the shelf she stood in front of. "I told you to leave those books in your room," she traced a spine of one with her finger. "You only have yourself to blame."_

"_Doesn't give him the right to just snatch it from me," he argued, clenching his jaw. He didn't want to talk about this, but he also didn't want to accept his punishment. He didn't deserve what he was getting._

"_Does it give you the right to start throwing punches?" she shot back. _

_Nate fell silent. The kid had insulted his mom. It wasn't about the book. He couldn't admit to that though. "It wasn't just about the book," he said instead, being more open ended to the explanation than anything. _

"_What was it, then?" she asked, walking back over to Nate. _

_Another pause. "Nothing." Nate looked up at her, furrowing his brows, "I'll save it for confession."_

_The nun sighed and started to walk out of his room. "No matter what I try… you seem insistent on going down the same, sad road as your brother," she sounded disappointed. Then, she disgustingly_ _added, "What a waste."_

Nate turned his back to the photographs. No more looking at family photos, he told himself. He started to look around at some of the items that Lara had put into display cases. Busying himself with that, he lost track of time. Lara had managed to come back and greet him in a tank top and shorts. He looked over to her and perked up, surprised she was already done.

"Oh, you're looking at some of my dad's finds," she told him softly. She walked over and grabbed his wrist, gesturing to the stairs, "You want a shower, right?"

"Yeah."

"Follow me, come on," she walked him upstairs to the West Wing. Walking down a hallway, she showed him a guest room. He perked, considering how nice it was. He caught himself admiring again. Lara opened the door to the attached bathroom. She saw that Nate's shirt had gotten ripped during their small adventure. "I have a shirt you could borrow… I have a lot of men's shirts that I sleep in," she admitted, shaking her head. "They're probably your size, I always get them way too big."

Nate gave her a look. "Are they the traditional button ups?"

"_Really?_"

"What?" he cackled, raising a brow. "All I'm imagining is the classic 'girl sleeping in boyfriend's button up' scenario." He took his shirt off and slung it onto the bed. Lara's eyes widened since she wasn't expecting him to do that. He sat down on the bed and started to take off his shoes. "What about my pants?"

Lara licked at her lips since they felt dry suddenly. "I can wash them," she reassured him, "And your underwear too— Er—" She stopped talking because she felt like she made it awkward.

Laughing, Nate kicked his shoes off and got back to his feet. He started to unbuckle his pants, "_You _or your _butler _will wash them?"

She watched him unbuckle his pants in surprise. Was he really getting undressed in front of her? She stammered somewhat, "I— he— yeah."

Nate unbuttoned and unzipped his pants after getting his belt off. He slid his pants off and placed them on the bed as well before he began to walk towards the bathroom. Lara watched. "Then thank him for me in advance, will you?" he joked, closing the door to the bathroom after he made it in.

Lara started to gather the clothes on his bed. She gave a little breath and realized she hadn't had a guy undress in front of her like that since her last boyfriend, which was ages ago. Her eyes looked over to the bathroom door and she stepped in front of it, holding the rest of his clothes close to her chest. She tapped on the door, "What about your—?"

He cracked the door open and handed her his boxer briefs. Without saying a word, he closed the door. Lara took them into her pile and started out the bedroom then. She would go and get them cleaned. When she walked downstairs to wash them, she was greeted by Winston.

"Ms. Croft," he said, following her to the washing machine, "I spoke with your friend."

"And?"

"He told me you were… kidnapped?"

Lara let out a heavy sigh. She put Nate's clothes into the washing machine and gave Winston the shirt. "It's fine, Winston, don't worry," she reassured him, turning the machine on. She turned on her heels and gave him a soft smile, "Can you throw that shirt away? It got ripped up."

* * *

Nate was in clean clothes now. After he had gotten out of the shower, the two had looked over the coordinates and were able to map out where they needed to go. When they had finished that, Nate had asked Lara to tell him about Trinity. Though she was reluctant, she knew she had promised him she would, and told him they could eat lunch and talk about it. Now, they were sitting at Lara's kitchen table, eating sandwiches and drinking tea.

"Trinity's hard to explain," she said, taking a sip of her tea. She looked down at the liquid in her mug before she had thought of the right words to say. "They believe they're the only ones that can help God purify the world. They think that they have the divine right to get us back into a 'paradise.'"

Nate swallowed down the bite he took of his sandwich, a little taken aback. "So, they're religious freaks?" he asked, laughing a little bit. "I went to Catholic school and they weren't even that bad," he joked to the other, taking another bite of his food.

Lara managed out a laugh in return. "I suppose you could say that, yeah," she grabbed her sandwich with one hand, taking a bite. "When I went to Kitezh, they were trying to get the Divine Source for their 'mission'. And when I got the Key of Chak Chel, Trinity wanted it to… cleanse the world."

"Didn't that Leo guy say you killed the leader?"

"I did. Dominquez wanted to do the cleansing… but when he started the ritual I managed to kill him before anything too drastic happened. It's just- that wiped out Dominquez, a lot of their soldiers, _and _the High Council, so I figured Trinity was too weak to even have anything else in them," she explained, angrily biting into her sandwich again. Nate nodded, finishing up his own sandwich and trying to find something to say.

He took a sip of his tea. "Well, if they want the fountain then I doubt they're gonna use it for good," he finally murmured into his cup. When he took the mug away from his lips, he looked over to her. "Shoreline isn't really like Trinity. They're really just, ah, 'an army for hire.' Trinity probably hired Shoreline after that ritual thing for more soldiers. But I never took Nadine as the super religious type so maybe there's something more than just the money," he cackled, shaking his head.

Lara's fingertip started to trace her mug. Nate watched her hand for a moment, his eyes keeping track of her movements. When he had looked back up to her face, he noticed that she looked to be lost in thought. Her head was turned to the window, the sunlight was bouncing off her face, and she clenched her jaw. Her eyes had hues of green when the sun hit them, he realized. Part of him wished he had his journal, considering she was at a good angle to sketch out. The silence was broken when he remembered his journal though. "Lara?" he said gently, "Could I use your phone?"

She snapped out of her thoughts, her eyes going over to him. "Hmm? Oh… yeah," she murmured, though she remembered that their things were left in Florida or in the Trinity base. "You should be happy I still have a landline here," she told him then, pointing to where the phone was. Nate thanked her and got to his feet, walking over to it.

He dialed what he needed and put the phone up to his ear, a few rings before someone on the other end had answered.

"Hello?" Sully's voice rang out.

"Hey, Sully," Nate said, giving somewhat of an awkward grin, even if Sully couldn't see him. "Remember when you said to call you when things got complicated?"

Sully stayed quiet before sighing. "I sure do, kid," he replied.

"Well, I think things are complicated."

"They always are with you."

Nate laughed. After telling Sully a run down of the situation (getting kidnapped and winding up in England), he gave Sully the address of the manor. Before Sully could ask anything else, Nate told him he should save his questions until he came to pick them up. With a goodbye, he hung up and looked back over to Lara. "I got Sully to take us to Polynesia. He said he should be here in about four hours or so," he let out.

A little smile crawled onto Lara's face. She took the last sip of her tea and stood up. "We can look over my dad's research when he comes here then. We should go ahead and get our things together," she paused, walking over to him. She patted his shoulder, "Meaning equipment… so we can share." She nodded for him to follow her.

They walked upstairs, Lara leading Nate into her room. He tried to make sure not to admire and stare at the design this time. Her bed was against a wall in the center, across from her dresser and a mirror. On one side of her bed was a door that led to a walk-in closet, on the other side was a door that led to her bathroom. Beside her dresser, she had a weapon cabinet. Her archery bow was hung up by the cabinet.

Lara opened the door to her closet, grabbing a few cases that were made to hold the different equipment. She set them on the bed after closing her closet door, going over to the cabinet and opening it up to reveal a few guns. "Okay," she put her hands on her hips, "Pick what you want."

Nate raised his brows in surprise. He walked over and looked them over before choosing the guns he wanted. Lara took them from him and set them in a case. She grabbed her own choices as well, one of them being her bow. She placed them in their cases, set the cases down on the floor next to her bed, and then closed the cabinet.

"You're full of surprises sometimes, Lara," Nate told her playfully. He sat down on the bed and stretched, though he found himself laying down on it, his feet still touching the floor. Lara wasn't wearing any shoes, so she climbed onto her bed and gave him a giggle in return.

She laid down, resting her head on her pillow. "I guess so," she decided to amuse him. She looked down to him and chewed at the inside of her cheek before letting a breath escape her. "Take your shoes off," she told him. He heard her, sitting up and obeying. He took off his shoes, and assuming that was a sign that he could lay fully on the bed, he laid next to her. Nate laid on his back, Lara laid on her side facing him.

"Could I ask you something, Nate?" she uttered.

"Sure."

"What was it like being married?" Lara asked. This question took Nate by surprise. He tilted his head to look over at her, his eyes wide in shock. He didn't expect Lara of all people to ask that, considering she seemed so independent.

He cleared his throat, "What do you mean?"

Lara realized the question was abrupt. In return, she back tracked. "It's just, well, I keep telling myself I don't have time for a relationship because of my work. But then you told me you were married… and I think I'm just making excuses. I don't know, I guess I just don't want to do what my father did," she admitted.

"What'd he do?"

"He was busy a lot because of his research. He wasn't there a lot with Mom and I," she sighed, remembering such things. "After she died, he grew more distant. Buried himself in his work. I hated him for a long time because of it until Yamatai," she explained.

Nate furrowed his brows. "Sounds like Yamatai changed a lot of things," he observed.

Lara nodded, a breathless laugh escaping her. "I guess so, yeah," she replied. They went quiet for a minute. Nate felt bad for dodging the question and making her spill such personal stuff.

"If I'm going to be honest with you, Lara… I didn't do any treasure hunting when I was married," he muttered. "She—… _I_ swore off treasure hunting after I got engaged to her. Because it was too dangerous. And I ended up working for a salvage company for a long time until Avery's treasure." He was hesitant on telling her how he really felt, so he told her the story through his fake emotions instead. He bit his lip, realizing what he just said might scare her away from the idea of a relationship. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

Lara listened to him, trying to soak it in. She suddenly grew curious on Nate's relationship. "Can I… ask why you got divorced then?"

Nate suddenly felt a panic in his chest. He hadn't been asked that question in quite some time, and he didn't really like it. It made him feel nervous. It made him feel anxious. He didn't usually talk about his divorce. He didn't even like talking about it with Sully and Sam. He gulped. "Miscommunication," he said simply, not wanting to go any further. The answer was much more complicated than that, but his mind couldn't handle it. His heart couldn't. His soul couldn't.

"I—… I'm sorry I asked," Lara murmured, realizing she probably made a mistake.

"It's okay," he didn't want her to feel bad for something that wasn't her fault. "I'm just not good with talking about it."

"That's fine. I know it must be hard… I couldn't really begin to understand."

Nate looked up at the ceiling. His eyes started to trace the texture that was scrawled upon it. They remained in silence for almost thirty minutes. Neither of them knew what to say. Finally, Nate managed to find something that could lift them out of the weird mood. "To be, like, a billionaire… you're really humble, you know," he complimented her.

Lara smiled. "Well… for awhile I didn't even use the money I had inherited… or the manor," she gritted her teeth, though she soon let her jaw rest after doing so. "When I was going to uni, I wanted to go myself. I didn't want to go just because I had money. I worked a lot of jobs to pay it off." Remembering the hard work, she shook her head and closed her eyes. "I think I might have resented it because it reminded me of my dad…"

"Huh…"

"I let the manor get… almost destroyed. Then after Yamatai… I finally came back here. Only for my uncle to try and take it from me, but I guess I couldn't blame him, I hadn't been using it," she grabbed the sheets of the bed and suddenly slipped under. She felt like she had talked too much about her backstory. "Do you want some covers? We might as well get our sleep, especially if we have a four hour wait."

Nate thought for a moment. At first, he felt it would be bad to get under the covers with her, though he realized that she had offered, so it wasn't like he was trying to push his boundaries or anything. She was okay with it. He decided to get under with her, agreeing that they should sleep. He was tired anyway, even if he had napped in the car on the way there. "Don't let the bed bugs bite," he joked to her.

"I won't," she replied, smiling a little.

Nate closed his eyes. He hoped he would sleep the entire time until Sully got there.


	9. Polynesian Troubles

**UC and TR do not belong to me! Only OCs and plot do**

**NOTE: You guys are awesome. Also, this chapter has some fun nods to a certain Uncharted game ;)**

* * *

Nate's eyes fluttered open and left him in despair. He immediately looked to the alarm clock that was on Lara's night stand. Realizing he had only slept for about two hours, he exhaled from his nostrils heavily, angered at himself for not being able to sleep longer. He was comfortable in Lara's bed (it was way better than his bed in his own apartment), so this fact made him even more frustrated. What was he to do while Lara was sound asleep next to him?

He shifted, turning over to his side to face her. She was fast asleep, deep in it, and he figured nothing would be waking her up right now. Her eyes shifted ever so often, which told him she was in REM sleep. He wondered what she was dreaming about, a small smile coming over his face as he watched her. This, somehow, felt familiar to him. In that moment, he realized he used to watch Elena at times when he would wake up in the middle of the night. He would admire her looks, wonder what she was dreaming, and find himself slowly drifting back into sleep while doing so.

He didn't want to do that with Lara, that wasn't right. He squeezed his eyes shut and attempted to block out the idea. He suddenly felt cold, even though he was under the covers, and he gritted his teeth. Giving in, he understood his feeble attempt to go back to sleep was not going to happen. He gulped and cracked his eyes open again, looking over Lara's facial features. He found himself admiring her quite often, acknowledging that she was a pretty great subject for artwork. She had full lips, a soft jawline, and lashes that made it seem like she was always wearing mascara.

Lara shifted in her sleep, a strand of her falling over eyes. Out of instinct, Nate went to brush it back, but quickly stopped himself. _You're barely friends with her_, he reminded himself, and he turned over so his back was facing her. He'd be staring at the wall ahead instead of the woman who was kind enough to share her bed with him.

* * *

A knock at the bedroom door startled the pair out of whatever sleep they were in. "Ms. Croft, a man is here to see you. He said his name was… er, 'Sully,'" Winston called out, cracking the door open to find the two laying in bed. His brows raised, surprised to see the situation. Though he was in a little shock, he kept his composure. "Shall I tell him to leave?"

Lara began to sit up. She held onto her head as she yawned, her eyes squeezing shut before she had stretched out her arms. "No, no," she murmured, slowly getting up and waving her hand to Winston. "No, we're coming down. Tell him we'll be down in a minute." She sat on the edge of the bed, her feet touching the floor.

"Very well," the butler replied, leaving the two be.

Nate stretched as well, sitting up and looking to Lara. "Morning," he said sarcastically, sliding out of the bed. In reply, Lara yawned, causing for Nate to yawn as well. "Sully's either about to chew me out or tell me we should be robbing you," he joked dryly, following the woman out of her room. He yawned once more, rubbing at his eyes to feel more awake.

When they had made it down to the Grand Hall, they were greeted by Sully sitting on the couch. He noticed the two and quickly stood up, crossing his arms. "Kid, you call me to pick you up at a goddamn manor?" Sully asked, gesturing towards the bulk of the place.

"For the record, I had no idea I was even gonna end up here," Nate shot back.

Lara gave a smile at their banter before she stepped forward. "What exactly did Nate tell you over the phone?" she questioned, finding herself yawning as the drowsiness hadn't quite faded away yet.

Sully gave an exasperated sigh. That meant not a lot. "He told me you two got caught by Shoreline and some religious cult called Trinity," he replied, though he wasn't quite finished. "Somebody else is goin' after the fountain. Figures. Nothin' is ever easy with the kid."

"Wait, where's Sam?" Nate inquired.

"At home, somewhere I _wish_ I was."

"It only took you about four hours to get here. You weren't at home to begin with," Nate cackled, though he was curious as to where he had been. "Which… where were you?"

Sully shrugged. "Greece."

"Why the hell were you in Greece?"

"Trying to meet new people. Trying to mingle. I met a hot new number down there, ya know."

Rolling his eyes, Nate told the other to stop. He already knew where that was going, and he wasn't interested. Lara had placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes shifted between the two. "Well, let's go upstairs and look over my dad's research as planned," she said.

They nodded in response. Lara took them upstairs to her office (which used to be her father's), grabbing a file box from the floor and setting it on the desk. She opened it up and revealed a few journals. She grabbed at one. "These were all made during the start of his research. I never got to these… until today," she admitted. She opened the journal up, though reading over the first few pages, she saw the journal was all about something that _wasn't _the fountain.

Nate grabbed one then, as did Sully. The three of them began to look over the journals and see if they could find anything relating to what they needed.

* * *

"I think I found it," Sully murmured. The group had moved on to the second box of journals. Sully was holding the fourth one of the set. "Well, I _know _I found it. Says 'Fountain of Youth' plain as day."

Lara perked up. She was sitting in her desk chair, and she quickly stopped thumbing through her journal when Sully had mentioned the fountain. Nate, who sat on the other edge of the desk from Sully, looked to his older friend with a smile. "What's it say?" he asked.

Sully began to read off the pages. "'Alexander the Great was said to know of a fountain, though nothing came of it. However, King Prester John was said to have a fountain that granted youth and strength to those of his kingdom. Some of the stories include-'"

"Wait," Lara stopped him, putting her hand up. She was thinking, trying to find it in herself if she really wanted to continue on with all of the research her father had done. She realized she was being idiotic when thinking about it, because she _had _to keep going, she didn't exactly have an option. She gulped. "Sorry. Keep going."

"Alright. Let me see here… yada yada, ah. 'I believe John's kingdom is located somewhere near Asia, an island somewhere undiscovered. People debated it would be in Africa after finding no evidence in Asia, but I believe it simply is in neither continent. Somewhere, there is an island that belonged to the kingdom. And on that island, the Fountain of Youth could be.

"'Though, there is no real evidence to back up this theory. The Fountain of Youth is such a dismissive myth, I don't believe I even need to look further into it,'" Sully turned the page, frowning to see it only led him to the start of a new research project. He looked up at the others and sighed. "Well, that was a goddamn waste of time."

Nate nodded, standing up and looking to Lara. "Not entirely… I didn't even know about King John," he said, scratching the back of his head. "But King John is a myth himself… no one ever found any trace of the guy."

Lara stood up. "Well, I'll go get our things, Nate. You two go ahead and go outside," she uttered, marching out of her office to go to her bedroom. Sully and Nate watched her. Nate gave somewhat of a grin.

Sully slapped at Nate's chest with the back of his hand as they began to walk out as well. "Explain to me why you have a bedhead and no shoes on, kid," he cackled, making a face as he looked over at him. "She did too. Somethin' you not tellin' me?"

"Sully… nothing happened."

"If that's what you say," the older smirked, obviously joking. When Nate gave him a glare of annoyance, Sully raised his hands in defense. "I believe you, kid. What did you guys do while I was away anyway?"

"Showered. Ate. Napped. Nothing really crazy."

"Showered _together_?" Sully cracked, in which Nate had to shove the other playfully. He managed to make Nate laugh at that one.

When they made it to the front door, Nate opened it up and gave his friend a big grin. "No, we did that separately. I don't think Lara would've appreciated that very much," he shot back jokingly. The two stepped outside to be greeted by Sully's plane waiting on them. Nate kept on the stairs so he wouldn't get his socks in the dirt. He decided to sit down on the second to last step as they waited for Lara. Sully sat down next to him. "So… I'm gonna guess you have more questions."

"I do," Sully sighed, grabbing a cigar from his shirt pocket. "Who's Trinity, kid? What's all this about?"

"Lara told me they're this weird religious group… think they're meant to purify the world. I don't know, Sully. And with Shoreline working with them? It's almost like Rafe all over again."

"Well, Rafe was just a rich asshole, Nate," the elder snorted, biting the end of the cigar off before he had dug into the pocket of his pants. He snatched a box of matches and slid one out to light his cigar. "I gotta say, these guys are probably more dangerous than Rafe."

Nate watched Sully strike the match and light the cigar. "Oh, they definitely are. Lara's had to deal with them all by herself, you know. Could you imagine that? All by herself," he muttered, seemingly amazed by her accomplishments. Nate was used to having people help him; he was used to a team. Lara didn't seem to have that. She had Jonah, but he doubted Jonah came with her on expeditions every time. Suddenly, he realized that Jonah was probably the only one to really be there for her during expeditions, and the thought made him run cold. It struck him as sad, even if she was an independent character.

Sully began to puff the cigar, nodding in return to the other. He put his matches away. "That's pretty crazy, kid… but I believe it. I ain't known her long at all but I can tell she's a tough little lady," he stated.

"Yeah," Nate chuckled. He looked down at his hand for a moment, still not exactly used to it being bare. No ring felt so odd, even if it was freeing. In thinking about a ring, his hand subconsciously began to fiddle with the one tied around his neck. Sully smiled in seeing such a thing.

"I know you must miss the real one Marlowe decided to snatch down with her to the grave."

"I do, but… I don't need the real one to keep the reminder," Nate grinned, holding it up to see the inscription. _Sic Parvis Magna_. The inscription he lived by. "Greatness From Small Beginnings." To most people, it was a nice little message. To Nate, it meant more. It was a piece of his life that got him where he was today. He kissed the fake ring of Sir Francis and cackled, "But no one else has to know it's a fake." He winked, and Sully nodded in a playful agreement.

A thud of the cases Lara had set down on the top stair made them break from the moment and look up at her. She gave Nate his shoes and smiled somewhat before her eyes went to Sully, "We have the coordinates for you." She gave the elder a piece of paper that held the numbers, and she then grabbed the cases again, trotting up to his plane to put their things away. Nate slipped his shoes on and started to lace them up.

Sully stood up, looking over the paper before he stuck it in his pocket. "What's she got there?" he asked Nate.

"Guns… and a _bow_."

"A bow? We got ourselves our own little Robin Hood on our hands," Sully joked. When Nate finished with his shoes, Sully grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. They turned to the front door to see Winston giving a wave to Lara.

"Come back in one piece, Ms. Croft," Winston called out to the woman.

She peeked out from Sully's plane and gave a small smile to him. "I'll try my best. Keep the manor safe," she replied, in which Winston nodded and shut the door. Nate and Sully walked to the plane then, hopping in and getting situated. By the time they had made it into the air, Sully had already began to make another conversation.

"So, Lara… that's a big house to be all by yourself in," Sully murmured.

"I guess so. It doesn't bother me that much," she laughed in reply, leaning back on the bench in the back of the plane. Nate looked over to Sully, considering they were both sitting up front. He was somewhat suspicious but decided to stay quiet.

Sully nodded, "I'm just surprised a pretty lady like you doesn't have a, uh, boyfriend or something, you know?"

Nate rolled his eyes, the tiniest of smirks coming across his face. "Are you_ flirting_, Sullivan?" he teased.

Lara, who had been listening in on this lovely little interaction, stifled down a laugh. "I'm flattered," she added in, unable to keep her laughter under control much longer. She bursted out into a giggle and covered her mouth. "But I think I'm a little too young for you."

"He doesn't go after women his own age. He managed a date with a 25 year old before," Nate explained jokingly, turning around to look at her. He gave her a grin, his brows raising as his thumb pointed to Sully. "He's what you call a sugar granddaddy."

Making himself laugh at the joke, Lara joined him since the laughter seemed almost contagious. Sully, who let out a soft chuckle, shook his head and rolled his eyes. He added, "I can turn this plane around, you know."

"Awe, come on, just some teasing, old man," Nate responded.

"Remember you gotta stay on this plane with me for almost a whole day," Sully grinned, reminding them of such a thing, but also reminding them that the plane ride would be rather long. "Might have to switch with me so I can get my beauty rest."

Lara tilted her head, "Nate can fly a plane?"

"I thought I told you that-" Nate started, though soon realized he didn't. He must have skipped over those small details when they exchanged stories. "Never mind." He laughed a little bit, though he nodded to answer her question.

Sully hummed, looking forward. "Well, get comfortable. We got a long ride ahead of us," he said.

* * *

When night came upon them, Nate and Sully switched places in flying the plane. Sully was now knocked out, snoring heavily. Nate and Lara, who had slept a little before hand, were still wide awake.

"The guy snores like a bear," Nate mused.

"So I hear," Lara said weakly. She had been thinking about her screw up for the past thirty minutes. When she was at the manor, she meant to call Jonah and tell him what was going on, but she had forgotten. Her eyes went to Nate, hoping for a miracle. "Would Sully happen to have a satellite phone by any chance?"

"Mm, yeah. He keeps it on here just in case. Why?"

Lara gave a soft smile to herself. "Where would it be? I meant to call Jonah earlier but I forgot to… I feel bad about just leaving him in the dark," she explained.

Nate understood her dilemma. He told her it was probably in a bag somewhere in the back, and then proceeded to joke about how Sully had no real organization on his plane. Lara got up and started to look for it, digging into a bag before luckily finding it on her first go. She sat back down and thanked Nate before she called her friend.

When she had managed to get Jonah on the phone, she greeted him with a hello. "Hey, Jonah, it's Lara. Yeah- I meant to call you beforehand, I'm really sorry about that. The St. Augustine trip didn't go according to plan," she murmured into the phone. Nate, although focused on flying the plane, listened in on the conversation. Though he couldn't hear Jonah, he felt satisfied with only having Lara's end of the conversation. "Well, Trinity isn't… dead. They're still very much alive. They hired some group called Shoreline to build up again," Lara spoke, a sense of uneasiness in her voice.

There was a pause, Lara spoke again after a few moments. "We're heading to somewhere in Polynesia right now. We found a lead there- er- yeah, Trinity will be there," she winced then. Jonah had said something along the lines of him being worried. Lara began to feel a sudden drop in her stomach, though she regained herself. "It's alright, Jonah. I'm not alone. If anything happens, I'll call you right away. I just wanted to let you know… okay. Bye, Jonah." After finishing her call, she set the phone down next to her.

Nate was quiet for a minute before he decided to speak. "How's your friend?" he asked.

"Oh, Jonah? He's fine."

"Where's he at?" he questioned, remembering what Winston had said at the manor. "Your butler said he was surprised you were with _me_ and not him, ya know."

Lara laughed. "He moved back to the states actually. Well… not exactly _back_ because he lives in the mainland now… he used to live in Hawaii," she replied, swaying a little bit in her speech. "His grandma wanted to be closer to her son… and his cousin asked him to help with her… he really cares about his family so…"

"He used to live in England too?"

"Mmhm. He's lived in Hawaii, New Zealand, England… he's kind of everywhere."

Nate found that rather interesting, though he didn't really say anything. Instead, the loud snores of Sully broke the conversation, and the two began to laugh at the awkward interruption.

* * *

"Wake up, gorgeous," Nate said, pushing Sully a bit. When Sully had opened his eyes, he saw that the plane had landed in a small clearing. The elder sat up and stretched, turning around in his seat to see Nate had walked over to Lara. They were getting their equipment.

Sully stumbled onto his feet, "Already here?"

Nate turned to the other. Now wearing a holster with his guns, he gave a grin. "Yeah, old man," he joked. The scene somehow reminded Sully of something.

The older man walked over to one of his bags in the back and unzipped it. Digging into it, he then stood back up and held a small journal in his hand. "By the way, you left this on my plane, kid," he smirked. "Thought you might want it back."

Perking, Nate snatched the journal from Sully. "You happen to have my charcoal in there?" he asked with a grin. The other looked. When he had finished, he gave Nate what he had asked for. Tucking them in his pocket, Nate patted Sully's back and gave him a thanks.

Lara smiled, her bow and a few arrows now strapped on her back. On her leg, she had a holster for her handgun. She placed her hands on her hips, "Well, we should get going."

Sully nodded, though he grabbed his revolver first. "So, where exactly did those coordinates lead us then?"

The group stepped out of the plane. Nate looked around as they began to walk, "I saw Trinity and Shoreline's stuff and landed a little away from them. Don't know if they found anything yet. So… in the dark as much as you."

As they began to walk towards where Nate remembered the others being, he grabbed at his newly found knife that was tucked into his shoe. He cut at some vegetation that had been in their way. Nate led the group, Lara was behind him, and Sully stayed in the back.

"So… how long have you two known each other?" Lara asked curiously.

Nate cackled. "Too long," he joked.

"Since he was a little punk," Sully joked in return. "A tiny thief in the streets of _Columbia_ of all places."

Lara let a small giggle escape her. "Really?"

"Yeah, well… a teenager needs hobbies," Nate defended himself. He decided to elaborate. "I was trying to find Drake's ring and cipher disk since… you know-"

"They 'belong' to you?" Sully teased, hinting at something that Nate hadn't told Lara yet. As far as Lara knew, Nate still held his claims of being related to Sir Francis Drake. "He tried to steal them from a museum-"

"So did you."

Sully rolled his eyes. "I took the kid under my wing and I've been stuck with him ever since," he told the girl.

Lara, who found that information a little surprising, raised a brow. "What? Could you maybe… elaborate?"

Nate clenched his jaw for a moment, but he went on with what she had asked for. "Long story short… me and my brother were orphans. I snuck out of the home and Sam took care of me for a long time. He pissed me off in Columbia and I ran off to try and find the ring," he told her, though he said it in a lighthearted way. He even laughed in between his words. "When Sam found me…"

"He was ready to kill ya, kid," Sully laughed. He shook his head, remember such a thing.

"_Nate! There you are, oh my God," Sam yelled, running up to see his brother with a man. He was out of breath, considering he had been running all around the city. "Don't you __**ever**__ run off like that ever again. What the hell is wrong with you?"_

_Nate crossed his arms. The teenage rebellion was showing quite well. He almost pouted in return to seeing his brother. "What do you mean what's wrong with me? I'm doing what we were __**supposed**__ to be doing."_

_Sam gave a huff. "I told you we'd try and do it another day. I was getting us some money so we could actually have somewhere to stay for tonight. Jesus Christ, Nathan." He looked up to the older man then and gave him a look. "I'm- I'm sorry. This is my brother. I hope he wasn't too much of a little assho- er- bother."_

_Sully looked between the two. He gave a small smile, the exchange of words they had were rather amusing to him. "So, this is the Sam you told me about?" Nate nodded. Sully held his hand out to the other, "Victor Sullivan. I saved your brother's ass from some real thugs, ya know."_

_Shaking hands with him, Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm not surprised, actually," he admitted. "But… thanks."_

"_Sully said he'd help us," Nate suddenly said. He scratched at the back of his neck, looking to his brother. "He said he'd, um… show us the ropes…"_

"_That sounds great. Except I don't exactly know him and-" Sam began, though Sully cut him off._

"_Listen, kid… Nate almost got shot today. You just admitted yourself you're having money problems. Let me help you out. From what Nate here told me, you both got talent… just need a little push. I can be that push," Sully explained. After taking Nate to a bar to get some food and seeing how hungry he was, Sully couldn't help but feel bad for him. He knew both brothers needed help, and he didn't exactly want to turn down the opportunity of a pair of helpers anyway. _

_When Sully had brought up the money, Sam winced. He furrowed his brows, considering he knew the other was right. He stayed quiet for a little bit, not wanting to admit to it. He was stubborn, but for once, he knew he needed to take up the deal. "I-... I guess so," he murmured, feeling utterly defeated. His eyes went to Nate, though he jumped in shock. "Holy crap. Is that the ring?"_

"_Yeah. Got it… without your help," Nate replied pettily. _

_Sam shook his head. Sully began to walk the new member of the group down the street, the three of them walking side by side. "I see great things in our future, kids," he smirked, pulling out a cigar. "Great things."_

"Well, he probably thought I was dead or something. We _were_ in Columbia," Nate chuckled.

Lara was a bit in shock over hearing all this. She realized she and Nate shared a similarity in having some type of guardian; maybe that was why Sully had reminded her of Roth at times. She thought it was sweet Sully had helped him. Thinking back on it though, Nate's comment about Catholic school suddenly made a lot of sense. He must have been in a Catholic boys home.

"Sully has a bigger heart than I imagined," Lara joked with the two.

"He's a big softie," Nate grinned. "He just doesn't like to show it."

Sully waved his hand, "Ah, shut up, kid."

* * *

After walking for another 45 minutes, Sully groaned. "Are we lost, Nate?" he asked.

"No, we're not lost," Nate replied.

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

"Well, Nate… I didn't wanna say anything but I feel like we've been walking around pretty endlessly here, kid."

Rolling his eyes, Nate groaned. "Sully, it's not like I ever got us lost before-"

"Oh, really? I guess we forgot that little fiasco down in Angkor Borei…" Sully mused.

"Hey, I did_ not _get us lost that time- I mean, not because of… ya know."

"Right."

"Just had the wrong map," Nate admitted.

Lara, who had heard that, raised a brow. "How… do you grab the wrong map?"

"That's _exactly _what I said," Sully laughed, clapping his hands humorously. "I like this one, Nate, I really do."

"Oh, now you're just making me look- I know how to read a map, okay?" Nate said.

Lara cackled. "Are you sure?" she had joined in on Sully's joking. "If we get one, maybe I should be in charge of that."

Sully elbowed Lara then. "One time he had the map upside down. Almost killed us in a waterfall."

Nate turned around to look at them, "Well, that wouldn't have happened if somebody hadn't dropped the GPS into the drink." He gave Sully a smirk, subtly hinting at him being the culprit. "I remember it quite well."

"Oh, Jesus… alright, alright," Sully said, putting his hands up. Nate turned back around and they began to walk again. Lara couldn't help but laugh. Their relationship had some humor that she appreciated.

"Wait, stop," Lara told Nate, the group approaching the sound of voices. She put her finger over her mouth, hushing the both of them. Going quiet, the trio listened in on what the voices said. They also realized they finally found where Trinity and Shoreline was.


	10. Be Willing to Sacrifice

**I do not own Uncharted or Tomb Raider. I only own the OCs and plot.**

**NOTE: I'm posting this at 3:30 AM because my sleep schedule is a mess but hey it happens. Anyways, chapter 10. Also, might be drawing a cover for this story so soon it might look all nice and pretty lol. Enjoy the read! **

* * *

Being as silent as they could, they hid behind some trees and listened in on what was going on ahead of them.

"There's nothing _here_, White," Nadine growled. Her voice sounded frustrated, almost strained. There was a laugh that followed after. Lara peeked from her tree to see what was going on. There was a group of soldiers and equipment, Leo and Nadine were in the middle of it all, but in general, Nadine was right. Nothing looked to be there.

Leo laughed. "There has to be something here, we're just being too close minded," he explained, looking around the area. His attention focused on the rock that clung onto the side of a slope hill, squinting before he had walked over to it. Nadine, who crossed her arms, simply watched him. Her patience had always been thin, and that didn't change now. Leo gestured towards the rock, which was oddly shaped compared to the rest of the slope. Knocking on it, he listened to see if there was any difference between it and the others.

Nadine was confused. She huffed, "What is it that you're doing exactly."

"Give me something to knock this down with."

"What?" Nadine asked, glaring at him. Though, she looked to one of her men and nodded. "Give him something." The soldier grabbed a pickaxe and tossed it to Leo.

Leo quickly smashed it into the rock, in which it crumbled under the force. After cleaning up the area, there was an entrance that lead into the hill. "Looks like someone made some fake rock to cover this up, huh?" he smirked, tossing the pickaxe back to the soldier. Nadine, surprised, stood where she was with wide eyes. Leo took notice. "It sounded hollow," he explained, gesturing for the soldiers to go in. "We'll follow after you."

As soldiers ran in, Nadine walked over to Leo. "I have to hand it to you," she murmured, not wanting to admit to what she was going to say. "You surprise me sometimes."

"Is that a good thing, Ross?"

"I'd say it is."

"I feel honored," he replied, a smile coming across his lips. "How good is it that you're surprised?"

"Don't push it," Nadine spat in return. She walked off after the soldiers then, leaving Leo to watch her go. He was left with a vile smirk on his face before he himself walked behind her. When that portion of soldiers had walked away, only a select few were left in their place.

Lara looked over to Nate and Sully. She grabbed her bow and an arrow, aiming at one of the soldier's heads. With the pair watching, Lara made sure the soldier was out of sight from the others before she had let loose. The arrow quickly made its way into the man's head, making him fall down to his death. "There's only a few of them… I'll get the ones on the right," she whispered.

"Do we gotta do it stealthily?" Nate asked, joking.

"I think that's preferred," Sully uttered, slapping the back of Nate's head before he gestured for the younger to follow him. After give a little "ow," Nate walked with his friend. They found themselves behind a metal crate.

Nate gripped onto his knife, though he soon let it go, telling Sully to deal with the soldier on the other end. When Sully had crouched over to where he was told, Nate looked up to see a female Shoreline soldier leaning on the crate he was hiding behind.

"Am I the only one who feels like this is just some wild goose chase?" she asked her fellow coworkers.

"No. I think most of us do," one soldier replied.

Sighing, the woman shook her head. "This better actually lead us to something…" she whispered to herself. Another soldier heard that, and he gave a playful "amen" in return. After their conversation died down, Nate peeked to see the others' backs were turned. He grabbed at the woman and snapped her neck, hiding her behind the crate with him. Wincing, he perked up when he saw a few more soldiers fall almost like dominoes. _She's really good with that bow_, he thought. He jumped over the crate and quickly scampered over to an area of tall grass. His eyes caught sight of Sully, who had taken out two soldiers and basically cleared out their side.

Sully squatted down behind a crate. Nate saw one more soldier, who was taking cover himself. He realized the soldier had taken notice of his coworkers dropping like flies. Lara, however, didn't see the last soldier from her view. She stepped out from behind her tree and into the sights of the other. When the soldier had popped up from behind his cover to shoot at her, Nate launched himself forward and tackled him in midshot.

Lara staggered back, a bullet zipping past her. Surprised, her grip on her bow tightened. Nate wrestled with the soldier behind cover, unknown to Lara. He grabbed onto the gun and managed to get it out of the soldier's hands, tossing it to the side. In return, the soldier gripped onto the Nate's face. Nate clasped his left hand onto the soldier's arm, trying to pull him off with no avail. His right hand snatched at one of the handguns in his holster, pulling it out and aiming it poorly. Half of his vision was gone due to the soldier's hand covering one of his eyes.

Sully peeked from his cover and got to his feet in seeing the situation. As soon as he went to run over, he came to a halt in hearing the gun sound off. Nate stumbled to his feet and gritted his teeth, wiping off some blood that had splattered onto him from the sudden headshot. Lara perked, seeing the two of them and running over. She put her bow back on her back and she pursed her lips, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Nate replied, eyeing the assault rifle he had tossed away earlier. He walked over and grabbed it then, strapping it onto his back. "Let's go."

She nodded, frowning in response. The three stepped into the entrance, Lara and Nate turned on their body flashlights considering they knew it would get dark later on. Sully huffed. "Well, I wish I got the memo," he murmured to himself.

"Just stick with us. You'll be fine," Nate said in reply.

As the three walked deeper into the side of the hill, they noticed there was a pathway that led forward. Assuming that's where the soldiers went, they stopped for a moment. Lara gave a sigh, her eyes looking over the rock to her side. She could see a crack that led up to the ceiling of the cave-like hallway. She grabbed her trusty pickaxe and started to work at the rock. Nate perked up and looked over to see what she was doing, though his eyes widened in seeing she had opened up a new pathway.

The new pathway lead down to a staircase. Lara gestured for the two to follow her down. "Better to not get caught, right?" she joked dryly.

The three started down the staircase then. Walking rather slow due to the steepness of the stairs, they began to look around to see what was ahead of them. When they were given no real hints, Nate sighed and shook his head. "I'm still tryna figure out why our buddy Ponce had a royal orb," he said aloud, as the thought still struck him as strange.

"Maybe this whole thing actually is related to Prester John," Lara reasoned, considering that was the only way any of it would make sense.

Taking in that idea, Nate seemed to agree. "Yeah," he murmured, though he had nothing else to add. The trio made it down the staircase and were met by a large, open room. In the middle of the room sat what looked to be concrete slab of sorts. Ancient drawings wrapped around it, and murals painted the walls.

Lara stopped in her tracks. "Oh, God," she whispered. She knew exactly what this was. "This is a tomb."

"A _tomb_? You're tellin' me those coordinates led us to a grave?" Sully piped out, raising a brow.

The woman stepped forward, making her way to the centerpiece of the room. "Apparently," she simply responded. She started to pushed at the cover then, though it was much too heavy to move it herself. "Nate, come help me with this."

Nate began to help her. Though it felt like the thing barely budged, they eventually slid the cover off enough that they were able to look inside. Nate covered his mouth and recoiled, "Oh, _Jesus_," he groaned, jumping back. A rather large spider had crawled out, a few other bugs seemed to have used the grave as their hang out. "Lara, I do _not _want to raid a tomb today."

Sully looked over to see an old torch on the wall. He got his matches out of his pocket, lit one, and then let the torch be engulfed in flames. Putting his matches away, he grabbed the handle of the torch so he could have a light source himself. "You kids have fun with that. I'll look around the rest of the room for anything," he told them.

Lara looked into the grave to see a skeleton with golden accents. "Looks to be… some kind of royalty," she mused.

"Prester?"

"No. The wardrobe's too feminine."

"Then- who the hell is that?" Nate asked, confused. Lara shrugged. She was just as confused as Nate. She sighed and looked at the sarcophagus more closely. There had to be something telling them who this was. Her fingertips traced along the side before she noticed that something had been etched into it. She crouched down and hoped she would be able to read it.

She squinted before figuring out what the inscription said. "'Here lies Queen Abella John, the former Queen of Belia. Born in 700, she died bravely in protecting her people. Now, her people will return their gratitude and fulfill her last wish. The Queen that was once'… ah, it's a little rubbed off… let's see… mm… oh- 'Rest in peace, our beautiful queen, you will not be forgotten. 700 to-'… this can't be right," Lara said under her breath, suddenly dumbfounded.

Nate leaned over a bit, his hand placing on her upper back. He squinted, but he couldn't read the language. It was out of his territory. "Isn't 700 a little out of our time range?" he asked.

"It is… but it says her death date is 1522."

"That's a year after Ponce de Leon," Nate remarked.

Lara nodded, the warmth of Nate's hand feeling odd, though she didn't push him away. "Well, yeah… that's the thing. She would have been over 800 years old when she died," she reminded him. The math didn't add up. Nate patted her back and cackled.

"We're looking for the Fountain of Youth here. _This_ is telling us the thing's pretty legit," Nate laughed more, in which Lara got to her feet and smiled softly. The thought hit her and she realized he was right.

She pushed him playfully on the chest, "Oh, my God… you're right!" She slapped a hand on her forehead and rolled her eyes, "I'm a dumba-"

"Hey, kids," Sully interrupted. "I think I got something you'd wanna see."

The two looked over to where Sully was. He was standing behind what looked to be similar to a podium. After they walked over, they noticed some old papers scattered across the podium and the floor surrounding it. Lara grabbed one of the papers, "That's odd."

"What?" Nate questioned.

"The inscription was in Malay, but these are in Spanish, I think."

Nate grabbed the paper from her and read a few sentences. "Uh, Lara?" He smirked, holding the paper up with a chuckle. "These are from our good old friend Ponce de Leon."

Sully grinned. "You're kidding me. They said most of his documents were gone, didn't they?"

"Yeah, well… looks like we found where they went," Nate retorted. He walked in front of the podium and grabbed the papers that sat upon it, stacking them up and straightening them as well. Lara started picking up the other papers on the floor. "The one you handed me says something about the queen-... which speaking of that… _what the hell is Belia?_"

Lara poked her head up. By then she had gathered all the papers and stood up, giving Nate the rest of them. When he took them from her, their hands touched for a brief moment. They both took notice. Nate took his hand away quickly and fumbled with the papers.

"I have no idea," Lara admitted, rubbing her arms. "I've never heard of it."

"Well, was it here?" Sully asked.

"Couldn't have been," Nate sighed. He put his hand up and said he would carry on with the reading. He hoped something would be figured out there. He shifted paper after paper when he didn't see anything useful, though he finally found something that seemed to be in their favor. Roughly translating the Old Spanish, he began, "'I only met Queen Abella but a few days prior but I can tell she is one of the most selfless people to roam mother earth. She gave up her kingdom and home to save her people. She gave up her marriage.

"'She has offered my crew shelter and food. After we arrived here we asked her what was of the fountain. We believed this was where it would be, but we were sadly mistaken. Queen Abella explained that-'... it's ripped off," Nate groaned. He shifted over to some other papers before finding something similar to what he was reading about. "Crap, it's barely- okay. 'King Prester John is looking for her. She is the only one who holds the key to the fountain. She told me to turn back and forget this journey, and that is too dangerous. We will go back at sunrise, under her wishes. I hope she survives.'"

Sully gripped his torch tighter. "What in the sam hell was going on here?"

Lara started to bite at her thumbnail as she thought. Her question was the same as Sully's; what _did_ happen here? There was a queen of a kingdom they never heard of who held the key to the Fountain of Youth. King Prester John was after her. She perked then. "She was his wife," she told them. "The inscription said Abella John."

"Oh, shit, it did," Nate agreed. He set the papers on the podium. "So… what? Why would she take this key or whatever?"

Sully leaned on the wall now. He listened to the two of them talk.

"Do you think Ponce de Leon would have written it down?" she asked.

"I'm not reading any more of those. There's like 70 pages," Nate laughed, waving his hand to suggest that was a no go.

Lara nodded, giggling. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to read anymore either."

Sully smiled.

"Well, guess we gotta figure it out ourselves," Nate told her.

Sully shifted, stumbling away from the wall when he felt something move. "Goddamn it," he muttered, his eyes looking over at the wall to see what it was. The wall was decorated with a golden strip that ran across from each side. It had words, and looking at it more closely one could see that the strip was made up of sliding blocks that could be moved and rearranged. Some blocks were blank.

Nate quickly turned to see Sully being in awe. "What is it, Sully?" he asked.

"I think I might have accidentally found some kinda… I don't know? Clue?" Sully laughed, not really sure. He shook his head and pointed at the golden strip for the others to see.

Lara tilted her head. "Well, _this_ is in Malay," she thought aloud. She started to read the strip. "'Queen of Belia, who was willing to sacrifice her everything and spill blood to protect her people. Queen of Belia, who forgave the moon.'" She confused herself in reading that.

Nate raised a brow. "What? Do we move the blank blocks?"

"And what? Make a new sentence? What would we even do?" Lara sighed, trying to figure it out.

Sully grabbed onto one of the blank blocks. "Let's just try something, huh?" he suggested. He pushed the block over "Queen of" in the first sentence, and the trio heard a small rumble. To their side, they could see a door crack open. "Well, I'll be damned. Didn't think that would work."

They all cracked a laugh at that. Lara grabbed onto a blank block and shifted it lazily, placing it to cover up the "her everything." The door only nudged itself into a crack. Nate grabbed his journal and turned to a blank page in return to their actions. He squinted and quickly scribbled down the strip and the work they had done so far. "Lara," Nate called out, smiling to her. "Come over here."

She did as he asked. "What is it?"

"Could you give me a key here?" he pointed at the page. He had jotted down every word from the script to the side. He gave Lara his small charcoal pencil. The woman happily agreed, writing down the words swiftly before handing him his journal back. "Thanks."

Nate looked back and forth from his journal to the wall. He wrote out what the wall said so far. _Belia, who was willing to sacrifice and spill blood to protect her people. Queen of Belia, who forgave the moon. _"Remember those old puzzles where you would have to rearrange the letters to make new words? That's what this reminds me of," Nate stated.

"What? Is this an ancient brain teaser?" Lara asked teasingly.

"Something like that. I used to be really good at those, ya know."

"Brain teasers?"

"Yeah. I remember a good one from when I was a kid." He marked out some words on his journal. "Move a blank between the 'l' in 'Belia' and 's' in 'was.' First sentence," he told Sully. Sully did so. The door cracked open more.

Lara crossed her arms, "Well, what was it?"

"It can't be seen, can't be felt, can't be heard and can't be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life and kills laughter. What is it?"

Lara scrunched her face up. She didn't really have an answer. She started to think on it.

Nate looked at his journal. _Be willing to sacrifice and spill blood to protect her people. Belia, who forgave the moon. _"Move one between 'a' in 'and' and 'l' in 'spill,'" Nate guessed. Sully did so. The door cracked again. He looked to Lara. "I haven't heard an answer."

"It's because my answer is stupid."

"No, what is it."

"Some… type of gas? I don't know."

"Keep guessing," Nate replied. He tapped his pencil against the page. _Be willing to sacrifice blood to protect her people. Belia, who forgave the moon. _"Um… try moving one over 'forgave.'" Sully did so. The door didn't crack.

Sully pursed his lips. "Wrong one."

Nate groaned, "Damn." He scratched at his head and suggested a new take. "'Move some to cover up 'to protect her people.'" After the block moved, the door moved some as well. He perked up with a grin. His eyes went back to his journal and he bit his lip, taking a complete new guess here. "Cover up 'Belia' and 'gave' in 'forgave."

The elder went with it. After doing so, the door rumbled and opened up completely. _Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon._

Lara gave a pleasant gasp when seeing the doors open. Nate put his journal away. "See? I told you I was good at these things," he told the woman. Though, as the trio began to walk towards the new opening, he elbowed her. "Gave up on the riddle?"

"N-no," Lara replied, almost flustered. She put her hand up in response. "I'll get it eventually. Just not right now." She began to walk ahead of him.

"Just tell me when you give up, British Biscuit."

Lara rolled her eyes with a smile. She stopped and ducked down since the entrance had a rock that stuck out. "Nate, be careful," she warned him.

"C'mon. I always am," he replied, looking at Sully with a mocking look. When he turned back around, his head hit the rock and he gripped onto his head, grunting in pain. "Ow! I did _not_ see that."

Sully, who ducked and didn't get his head, chuckled. Lara laughed as well, giving him a "I told you so" smirk before she turned back around to lead them into the new room. Nate rubbed at his head, gritting his teeth as he walked with Sully. "Did you see that? She just-"

"Oh, I saw it alright," Sully smirked, patting Nate's back. "I think she's gettin' back at ya for that riddle." Snorting, Nate took his hand from his head. His eyes went forward to look at Lara again, tracing up her legs before focusing on her behind. When Sully caught him in the act, he leaned forward and gripped onto the younger's shoulder tightly. "Ya know, normally it's you getting onto _me_ about that. Ain't this a change, kid?" he whispered.

The torch light shined on Sully's face to reveal a mischievous grin. Nate gave a heavy sigh. "I'm not doing _anything_," he defended himself.

"Oh, so you're not checking out the lovely lady?"

Nate gave him a tight lipped smile. He tried to think of what to say, but was at a loss for words. He gave up, whining like a teenager almost. "Okay, _fine._ I was," he admitted, realizing he couldn't talk himself out of it. "Now, drop it."

Sully twitched his nose. He couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, kid. Whatever you say."

* * *

The new entrance had took the group to a "room-before-the-room" situation. The new floor they stepped onto was built up of various platforms, some being hung by ropes and levelled to be in line with the rest of the ground. Looking up, the trio could see there were levers to pull a few feet above on makeshift platforms of clay that protruded from the walls. The levers looked to be what would open the door to the next _big_ room. On the bright side, there were only two of them.

Nate, looking to their sides to see what they could do, noticed some of the ropes that connected to the floor platforms. "Sully, Lara can get the levers and we can pull the ropes," he suggested. He walked over to the rope area and Sully followed after him. He grabbed onto one, nodding to Lara. "Whenever you're ready, Miss England."

Lara laughed a bit, getting onto the platform. She made a gesture for them to pull. When the men began to do so, they noticed that other platforms lifted with it as well, though all at different levels. Lara stood where she was, watching the other platforms as she was elevated up. "They really liked little brain puzzles," she mused, shaking her head. Figuring out where she needed to go, she jumped onto a few other platforms before reaching the area where the lever was. Playfully, she waved down to the boys below. "Watch and learn, huh?"

"What exactly are you teaching us?" Sully called out in response.

Lara grabbed onto the edge of the clay platform and lifted herself up into a handstand, after balancing for a moment, she soon found herself back on her feet, grabbing onto the lever. Below, both men's eyes were wide.

"Well, I definitely can't do that," Nate murmured.

"I think it looks better on her than it would ever look on you," Sully teased in response.

A few more platforms later, Lara managed to get the other lever before making her way back down. Twin doors on the other side of the room opened to reveal what looked to be walls of gold. When she reached the ground again, she tilted her head. Sully and Nate walked over beside her. "I wasn't expecting a golden room after all this," Lara admitted, starting to walk forward with the trio. Though, as soon as her and Nate's feet stepped into the new area, they found themselves falling through the old, wooden floor. Both of their combined weights seemed to make the weak point finally break.

Sully jumped back, looking down to see if they were okay. Luckily, they had only fallen a few inches below, even though most of the flooring had cracked and gave in beneath them. However, Sully found himself snickering at their position. Lara had fallen on top of Nate, and when she shifted to move, he let out a wince.

"That's my-" he hissed, not being able to finish the sentence. Lara perked up and noticed she was kneeing his groin. She gritted her teeth awkwardly and stood up finally, offering her hand to the other, who took it lazily. Standing back up, he adjusted himself and looked down at the floor. "Wood floor built above a perfectly fine stone one," he huffed. "Yeah, makes sense."

"Might have hid stuff under it," Sully reminded him, stepping to the side of the broken flooring so he wouldn't trip.

After the two climbed out, Lara nodded in response to Sully, though she patted Nate's shoulder. "Sorry, by the way," she laughed. "I didn't mean to hurt your 'friend.'"

Nate cackled in response. "My 'friend'?" he shook his head before elbowing her. "You're fine." He looked behind them and down below since what Sully had said made him wonder if there really was anything. To his surprise, he saw a few pieces of paper scattered across the floor below. He picked one of them up and made a face. "Crap," he muttered, considering he couldn't read it. He handed it to Lara. "Your turn to read."

She took it from his hands and looked it over. After reading it, her eyes went back up to the other. "This is a goodbye letter to the queen," she said, setting the paper down. "This must've been an offering room of some sort."

"I guess the gold theme makes more sense now," Sully told them.

Nate stepped a little ahead of the others. Looking forward, he saw what looked like a compact mirror sticking out of the wall, seemingly apart of the room. That wasn't what it was at all (or at least Nate assumed it wasn't), and that made him grow in curiosity.

Lara turned to look over the design of the room with Sully. The centerpiece of the room seemed to be the large pillar that was decorated in golden beads and beautifully carved depictions of the queen. "She must have been an amazing queen," she thought, especially with how many offerings of respect there were scattered across the room.

"But of Belia? I've never heard of it," Sully muttered.

"Yeah… that… that I'm still confused on."

Nate hadn't been focusing on them. He opened up the object only to reveal a simple needle inside, one that stuck out. The edges of the inside were hollowed out, seeming to be carved out to hold a liquid of some sorts. "What?" he whispered out, trying to figure out what it was. Trying to find something in his memory, he groaned in annoyance.

Lara looked over. "What is it, Nate?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied in habit. He kept his mind focused on their recent clues, but nothing was coming to him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." He wasn't. Yet somehow, that instance gave him a spark. _Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon. _He stuck his index finger out and looked at it for a minute in reluctance. "Here's to hoping I don't get diseases," he joked to himself, pricking his finger on the needle. His blood dripped down the needle and dripped into the carved out pieces of the contraption. In doing so, he could hear the slightest noise of clicking. He saw that his prick only covered the one half of the "pool" for the blood. He cleared his throat and turned, looking to the others as he rubbed at his finger. "Hey… come here."

Lara and Sully looked between each other before walking over.

"What is it?" Lara asked, though she then saw the bloody needle beside him. "Don't tell me you pricked your finger-"

"We have to."

"What?"

"'Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon.' They want us to give blood," Nate explained. Sighing when he saw how the two looked at him like he was crazy, he gave them a pouty face. For a grown man, his puppy eyes seemed to work as if he were still a tiny child.

Lara gave a groan. "Fine," she huffed. She got in front of the object and pricked her finger on it, snatching her hand away in habit and giving out a small "ow." Her blood dripped down into the pool, seeming to be the missing piece needed.

Sully sighed in relief. "Thank God. I don't know what's been on that thing," he joked to them.

Lara nodded, "Tell me about it." Though, looking up, she saw the pillar in the middle of the room start to move. She realized the width and size of it must have been for more than just aesthetic purposes. It began to slowly open up, soon revealing a new item to the group: a golden staff.

Nate slowly made his way over to it with the others. He reached out for it, and when he held a firm grasp, he looked it over in awe. "So, what's the reason for hiding this thing?" he wondered.

Lara admired it for a moment before noticing the engravings on it. She perked up, standing on Nate's other side and gripping onto his shoulder almost to peek over it. "'If the queen's spirit is ever to rise again, this will be her guide to find her people.' How would a staff guide anyone?" she uttered, confused.

"Has to be something else." Nate turned the staff, his eyes tracing every edge. The tip of the staff held what looked to be an eyeglass of sorts, something to look out of. Finding this odd, Nate took his attention to the staff's body itself. There were grooves on the upper area, as if some kind of ring were supposed to be attached to it. "There's _definitely_ something else. Something we don't got."

Lara scrunched her face up. "Probably the way Trinity went," she sighed.

"Yeah. I'm putting my bets on that."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys are liking the small shoutouts to the games, including some direct dialogue and like in this chapter a fun little name drop. It's always fun to try and incorporate those in! **


	11. Realizations & Talks

**Uncharted Tomb Raider do not belong to me. Only the OCs and plot of this story do!**

**NOTE: HEEEEEY just a fair warning there's the LITTLEST bit of sexual themes in this. Just wanted to put that out there. Also, a lot of fun stuff finally (sort of) getting revealed in this chapter! Enjoy, love you guys lots!**

* * *

The group made their way out of the cave area and back out into the open. With some time to spare for themselves, Lara tried to think on what to do. Whatever they needed for the staff was in the possession of Trinity. This felt like the orb situation again. While Lara was lost in thought, Nate grabbed her arm and started to pull her behind a tree near the woods so they would stay hidden. Sully followed suit. "They're gonna be comin' outta there any minute now," Nate reminded her. "We need to stay long enough to know what the hell they got."

"And then? How are you two gonna get the damn thing?" Sully asked. Yet before Nate could answer, the group they were awaiting had already came out. Leo was holding a flat ring in his hand, one that looked like it would fit perfect around the staff.

Nadine, who followed after him, seemed less than pleased. "We lost around 50 men in there," she told him bitterly.

"They died for a good cause. We have a piece of the puzzle," Leo replied. His voice was gentle. When he turned around, he gave her a soft smile. His free hand grasped her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "What's more important, my dear child? Those little lives we lost or the cause we're both fighting for? Those men or your moth-"

Nadine slapped Leo's hand away with a growl. "Don't ever touch me like that again."

Sighing, Leo turned his back to her. He began to look the ring over. "You're still a young, naive woman… you know that? Those men sacrificed themselves for the greater good. We may have lost them to traps, but they're exactly where they need to be now," Leo explained. He thought Nadine's actions and thoughts were immature at best. "You have to understand… that every war is won by bloodshed. Every side must lose men in order to prosper."

"This isn't a war."

"This is a war against time. Whoever gets the fountain first. Us or them, and I will _not _let Croft try to ruin Trinity again. I will _not _let her ruin our plans of God."

Nadine put her hands on her hips. What was she to say? She had nothing on the tip of her tongue. After thinking, she came back with, "I'm not part of Trinity, White. I'm Shoreline. We're two different things."

"Two different things that were brought together for the same cause, love."

"A _similar _cause. Not the same cause."

The trio that listened to this conversation had already seen the ring, and knew exactly what they were after, but stayed to listen on what Nadine and Leo talked about. Shoreline had joined Trinity for more than just money. There was a deeper meaning, as Nate had jokingly predicted at the manor.

Leo glared at Nadine for a moment, but eventually, another smile crawled across his face. He put the ring into his pocket and raised his arms into the air. "Don't you get it? Your mother will be the first civilian that Trinity saves. Your mother will be the first to feel God's grace. Our cause is one in the same," he laughed, his hands dropping by his sides. Looking to her with a glint in his eye, he offered her his hand. "Our cause is to save those who need saving through God's hand. You share that want, don't you?"

Nadine stared down at his hand. Despite what he had told her, she didn't take his offer of hand holding. Instead, she brushed past him. "My cause is to help my mother. Whatever Trinity does with the fountain after that is their business," she simply said. Looking to the soldiers (Shoreline _and _Trinity alike), she put her hand up for them to listen to her. "We'll set up camp here. Our ride isn't scheduled to be here until sunrise." And with that, everything went quiet. The soldiers had begun to help with camp, and Leo and Nadine had no other intentions on talking any further.

Nate looked to Lara. Lara looked to Sully. Sully sighed and nodded towards the direction the three had came from, sneaking off with them to go back to his plane.

* * *

"Well, what's the plan, kids?" Sully asked. They were back on the plane, though obviously not flying. Sully was lounging in his piloting chair. Nate was sitting next to Lara on the bench.

The truth was, neither of them really had a plan. Or at least Lara didn't. Nate was trying to think of one as they spoke. His eyes trailed over to the staff that rested next to him on the bench. They _needed_ the ring. They would have to get it from Trinity and Shoreline somehow. Leaning back, Nate groaned and put his hands over his face.

"Does that mean there_ is_ no plan?" Sully chuckled, looking back at the two.

Lara rested her chin in the palm of her hand, her elbows on her knees as she leaned forward a bit. "I can't think of anything… not right now," she sighed in defeat. "All we know is that they won't be leaving until sunrise. And we don't even know where they're going."

"Do you think the ring told them anything?" the older man questioned.

"Possibly."

Nate's hands plopped into his lap to reveal his face to them again. "Not leaving until sunrise…" he murmured. Their plan would have to involve getting it sometime before then, but at the same time, what about the staff? He didn't want to risk losing it. He perked up and looked to Sully. "I think I got an idea."

Sully rolled his eyes. "Oh, geez."

"No, no… listen. I think we might need more hands here. _You_ can take the staff with you and get help. Me and Lara can stay here and get the ring."

"Kid, I don't know-"

"Me and Lara can hitch a ride with 'ShoreTrinity' and call you from there. We'll take the phone," Nate explained, his eyes going to Lara then. "What do you think?"

Lara bobbed her head from side to side before she agreed with the plan. "We have nothing else. We might as well try it," she said.

Nate smiled. Her approving his plan almost made him have silly butterflies in his stomach. "Alright," he murmured. Sully reluctantly agreed, but he guessed having more help couldn't hurt. "We can get Sam and Jonah. Or try to get Jonah." Nate's sight focused on Lara again. "Would he be up for this?"

Lara hummed in thought. After a few moments, she gave a gentle smile. "Probably. I can call him about it," she responded. She grabbed the satellite phone she had before and stepped outside the plane to call Jonah about their plans. Nate watched her leave.

"I _would_ say you've been looking at her like a piranha, but you actually aren't that bad. Yet," Sully cracked. Nate turned around and shot him a look. "What? Kid, I'm only pointing out the obvious here. You got a crush on that girl, don't ya?"

"A _crush?_ Sully, I'm not 5."

"Well, you sure are blushing like you are," the other replied, cackling as he shook his head. Nate felt at his face and realized he was rather hot. "Fine. I'll reword it; you're _attracted _to that girl."

Nate looked to his side. He wasn't feeling the whole confrontation thing. He simply sighed. He didn't know what else to do. Or what to say.

Sully soon found himself sitting next to Nate. He patted the younger's back. "Look, Nate… I just don't want what happened to you and Elena to happen again. You and Elena went too fast. I think that's why it ended the way it did," he muttered, giving his own opinion on the subject. "You two loved it all up first thing and then the spark died. You two stayed in a relationship that's spark was gone for around two years."

Nate gave a heavy breath. Even though Sully was rubbing small, fatherly circles onto his back, this talk didn't feel very comforting at all. In fact, it made him feel uneasy in his stomach.

"And now look at you both. You're on what could be a suicide mission and Elena's p—"

Pushing away from Sully, Nate swiftly brought his hand up over his mouth and bolted out of the plane. He leaned his one hand on the side of the plane as he began to vomit, his brows furrowing as he felt his eyes mist from the feeling. Giving a heavy breath, he squeezed his eyes shut. Lara, who was still on the phone, noticed the scene.

"Er— Jonah? I have to go. I'll make sure to give Sully your number, okay? Alright. Bye," she said into the receiver. Hanging up, she ran over to Nate and patted his back. "Nate? What's wrong?"

The other gulped. "N-nothing. I'm fine," he uttered, lying through gritted teeth. His stomach knotted up again. He felt his bottom lip start to quiver. He began to dry heave.

Lara started to rub up and down his back in a sense of comfort, similar to how Sully had done earlier. "I don't think so."

Sully stepped over to the door of the plane and leaned against the doorframe. Watching them, he furrowed his brows. He hadn't seen the kid puke like that since the last time he had gotten drunk. Though seeing him do it now just felt sad. He didn't have any alcohol in his body. That vomit was solely due to bad memories creeping up his throat.

Nate puked again. He wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand. Pushing himself away from the plane, he looked between Lara and Sully with a sigh. "Sorry," he whispered. He felt as if he had been over dramatic, or at least his body had been. Why he had decided to throw up was beyond him. Lara started to lead him back into the plane. She sat him down and sat next to him. Sully stood in front of the two with eyes full of concern.

"Do you feel okay?" she asked him.

"I feel fine," he sighed. "It's not gonna happen again."

Lara nodded. She set the phone down that she was still holding and looked up to Sully. Resting one hand on Nate's back and the other on his arm, she said, "Jonah's going to help us. I can write down his number for you to call him again later." Sully nodded. Lara's eyes went back to Nate. "You don't feel sick or anything? Maybe you need some water."

Nate offered her a weak smile. "I'll be okay," he reassured her through a scratchy voice. Clearing his throat, he nodded to her. "Water wouldn't be bad actually." Sully walked over to one of their bags and tossed him a water bottle then. He opened it up and started to chug it. Realizing he had chugged it all in one go, Nate sighed and leaned back as he held the empty bottle in his hand.

* * *

Nate and Lara were walking to find a spot to camp for the night. If they weren't to leave until the next day, they would at least have to find a place to sleep. Sully had waved goodbye over an hour ago, flying back to get the rest of their new crew. Nate had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder that contained a few essential items, along with some things from the plane that he had decided to grab just in case.

"So, technically, we have the rest of the day to relax," he joked with the other, chuckling a little bit since the two had been relatively silent in their hunt for a campsite. His eyes caught sight of her face as he walked next to her. He could sense the slightest bit of tension. His mood suddenly shifted, becoming somber and sympathetic. "Lara?"

She looked to him. "Hm?"

"Are you good?"

Lara stiffened, trying to figure out exactly how to respond. She was attempting to understand how he had read her so well. She hadn't shown any signs of feeling bad in any way, other than the silence. As lines of words sprang in her head over what to say, her lips parted, though nothing came out.

Nate offered her a smile of reassurance. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he cooed, wanting her to feel comfortable. This seemed to make her suddenly have strength.

"Just thinking about… 'ShoreTrinity'... and this whole situation," she paused, taking a breath. The situation was starting to take a toll on her, and at such a random time. Maybe it was because Jonah was now coming. Maybe it was because she was bonding with Nate. "I'm just worried is all. And now that we know Ross is in it for personal reasons it just makes it worse."

Hearing what she had to say, Nate nodded in response. He understood her concerns. He wished he could figure out a way to make her feel better. To destress her. "Yeah, I get it," he simply said.

They continued walking, falling silent again. Nate only spoke when he pointed out the faint noise of what sounded like water. Growing curious, the two made their way towards the noise only to find small, spring-fed waterfalls that trickled into a water hole in front of them. With happy eyes, Nate's face soon had a smile that crawled to either side.

He set his duffle bag down next to his feet, laughing softly. "Now, _that's_ a sight to behold, huh?" Nate spoke, looking to Lara with newly bright eyes. Lara, who was still busy looking over the beautiful landscape, soon realized his eyes were on her. Blushing, she nodded to indicate she had agreed with him. That was when the idea hit him.

Lara was stressed. He wanted to help her relax. They had just found a water hole that could easily be turned into a _swimming _hole. "What would you say to a swim?" he asked. "I mean, it's hot. Would probably feel good."

"We need to find a campsite."

"We have all day. We can do that after we swim. Come on," he urged her, grinning more. When he saw she wasn't going to budge, he sighed and crouched down next to his duffle bag. Unzipping it, he soon pulled out a boombox. "Satellite. Snuck it from Sully… guy keeps on the plane for his oldie tunes," he cackled, standing back up right.

He turned it on, trying to find something to listen to. As soon as he heard the tune of "Gimmie Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, he stopped. Immediately looking to Lara, he pointed to the radio playfully. "I think that's a sign," Nate beamed.

Lara gave a sigh of irritation, yet when she soon smiled afterwards, it was obvious that she was more so playing around. Her eyes, which were no longer clouded with stress, held a happy glint. "Okay, fine. But only for a few songs," she compromised.

"Anything you want, Biscuit," he replied. He set down the radio and turned the volume up so they would be able to hear it while they were swimming. He stripped down to his underwear and looked over to Lara, who had begun to slip out of her shirt.

Revealing that she wore a sports bra underneath, she tossed her shirt next to Nate's clothes, almost as if they were making a pile. She then kicked off her shoes and took her socks off. Nate found himself watching. He realized his cheeks were growing red, which caused him to quickly take his focus away from her. Lara shimmied out of her shorts, being stripped to her undergarments like Nate was.

Lara tiptoed towards the water. Nate, who did the opposite, ran over and jumped in. His jump had made the water splash her and she shivered, though she had to admit the water felt nice compared to the heat. Laughing, she said, "You stupid bastard."

"Oh, no name calling."

"Bastard," she said again, almost to mock him. He swam forward and gripped her ankle. Realizing she was screwed, she yelped when she was pulled into the water. She bobbed her head to the surface and she giggled, splashing him in her only means of self defense. "That was just cruel."

"I think you had it coming."

"Okay… maybe," she agreed, rolling her eyes. She began to swim circles around him playfully. "I guess I have to admit to you that this nice, huh?"

He floated onto his back and gave her a smirk. "That'd be nice," he let out, closing his eyes. It was nice seeing her calm down and chill out. He didn't like seeing her so stressed.

Lara swam over to him and she rested her arms and chin on his stomach like he was the side of a pool. They kept like this in silence for a little. They enjoyed each other's quiet company and touch. Though, soon she found herself able to speak, "I think I figured it out."

"Mm… figured what out?"

"The riddle."

"Oh, shit," he cackled, standing up in the water. Lara leaned against him to catch her balance. He blushed somewhat but shook it off as the red from his laughter. "I gotta hear this."

She slapped his chest in return, giving him a look. "The dark," she murmured. "I thought about it for a long time and when I figured it out I realized I was an idiot for not getting it the first time." She looked confident in her answer, though her smile fell and she cleared her throat. "It… _is _the dark, isn't it?"

He put his hand on her shoulder and nodded. "Good job, Biscuit," he smiled, actually finding himself quite proud of her. He looked her in the eyes and admired the chocolate color. In return, she found herself appreciating his blues. They finally broke away from each other's gaze and they swam over to the side of the spring where some rocks were, leaning against them and relaxing their muscles for a moment.

Lara's eyes trailed over his bare torso. She had to admit that he had a nice build. Feeling her cheeks heat up, she looked away.

After becoming quiet again, Nate decided he'd rather have a conversation. His mind went backwards instead of coming up with a new topic, remembering an old one that he felt bad for glossing over. "We lost our spark."

"Huh?"

"My ex," he explained, looking at her with eyes of remembrance. "You asked me why I got divorced back at your house. It was… because we lost our spark… and… miscommunication, I guess." A heavy sigh escaped him. Why was he telling her this? "Yeah. That's it."

She was surprised by the new topic, and although she was unsure of how to respond exactly, she soon found herself able to say something. "Do you want to talk about it?" she questioned, being gentle.

It was a subject he didn't normally like to speak on. Yet, here he was. For once, he was the one who had brought it up. Though he nodded slowly as a "yes," he didn't do or say much else. Lara sucked in some air, feeling as if she might say something wrong. After giving a breath of discomfort, she patted his arm and smiled gently. It was a smile to tell him it was okay.

"You can start wherever. I don't mind," she whispered.

His mind began to race. As different starting points came to him, he quickly blurted out, "Sully says we went too fast."

"Why?"

"After Shambala… me and Elena got married," Nate winced a bit, remembering those memories. "But it wasn't that long. It was more of a spur of the moment thing. And it felt too… _claustrophobic_ to me. So, we separated. Sully kept my ring." When noticing that Lara was listening intently and had no intentions on speaking as of yet, he continued on. "But then after Iram, we patched everything up. We were fine again. I… wore my ring that Sully had saved."

"And then you had your break, right?"

Nate nodded. "I gave up _this _life for what I thought was a better one. But-... it's hard to get a decent job when you don't even have a high school diploma. Hence the salvage job I ended up getting," he murmured. "And after awhile it started to grow worse… Elena travelled a lot for her job. I felt like I didn't really have anything to do…"

He gave a breathless laugh. "I had all of my little treasures in the attic with my 'office'... I used to pretend I had my old life back in there," he said this with a slight smile, as if it were a fond memory of sorts. "But then Avery's treasure popped up. I thought I was doing it to help my brother but it was really just because I missed doing that stuff." He tilted his head to the side. "I lied to Elena for most of that… I told her I was on a business trip. I didn't want her to get upset… or leave me." Another sigh escaped him. "Until I found her in my motel room… I still don't know how she found me or anything. But yeah, she was pretty upset with me like I thought she would be. Intense fight. We ended up apologizing, figuring everything out.

"But after Avery's treasure, Elena said she wanted to buy the salvage company since my boss offered. She wanted to do a Malayasian job… get her TV show back," Nate chuckled under his breath, humorlessly. "Her show ended up being popular again, so we ended up selling the salvage company. She was travelling a lot more because of the show and she was barely home. She offered to take me sometimes but I don't know, I never really liked the camera or anything like that. I was home alone a lot, and when she did come back home we didn't talk much."

Lara frowned, her brows furrowing. She had an idea over where this story was leading.

"At some point, I think we both established we were just roommates. We didn't have to tell each other because we both knew," he gulped, considering the part that normally made him sick was coming up. "And then Elena went to France. When she came back, she told me she was-... she was pregnant."

Perking up, Lara realized the sudden twist had surprised her. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, Nate," she managed to say.

Nate waved her off, shaking his head with a shrug. "Don't be. I wasn't really mad at her… I know why she did it. We were barely in a relationship anymore. She was lonely too," he admitted.

"_Nate… please talk to me," Elena begged, sitting on the couch. Nate grabbed a beer from the fridge. He gave her a look. He wasn't talking. "Nate. You have to talk to me. Please. I don't want you to be mad at me- no, you can be mad at me." She sighed and put her head in her hands. _

_Nate opened his bottle and looked her over. The sight upset him. He decided to sit down next to her on the couch. He took a sip from his bottle and looked over to her. "Just-... tell me what happened," he murmured._

"_We haven't been talking. We haven't been seeing each other."_

_He sighed in agreement. He didn't know why he was mad. He had no reason to be mad. "I know," he said._

_Elena's hand patted his knee. She tried to lend him a smile of comfort. "I… missed having affection, Nate. But with me travelling all the time and us not even acknowledging each other when I'm home, I just-... I'm sorry," she almost seemed to be telling herself that. She felt bad for what she had done, but at the same time a part of her would do it again. "We've been acting like roommates for almost two years. Neither of us wanted to admit it."_

_Nate tightened his grip on the beer bottle. "Yeah," he replied, knowing she was right. He realized he wasn't mad then. He wasn't mad she had sought affection from someone. He wasn't mad she had gotten pregnant with some Frenchman's baby. He was upset. He was upset because he felt like everything had been broken, that he had somehow missed his chance for anything. He was upset because he realized this was the final breaking point. This would be what made them call it quits once and for all. _

"_We should've done this sooner," Elena whispered._

"_You're right."_

"_I'm sorry," she said again. She looked away and held back tears. She didn't want to cry in front of him, she already felt bad enough as it was. _

_Nate looked over at her. "It's okay," he reassured her. "You don't have to be. I'm not mad at you."_

"_You're not?"_

"_No." He set the beer down and grabbed onto her hand. He gave it a squeeze. This was the final little hand squeeze of their relationship, but the first one they have had in those two years of what seemed like a waiting period. _

"And we're still friends. Or try to be," Nate added.

Lara was quiet for a minute. She didn't think the reasoning would be that complicated. She chewed at the inside of her cheek before she breathed heavily from her nostrils. Almost like she was taking a leap of faith, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. She had nothing to say, but wanted to show him some kind of comforting affection.

Surprised by Lara's actions, Nate's eyes widened as he stumbled a bit, his back hitting the rock he was leaning on. His hands hovered above her body before he had decided to hug her in return. He appreciated her gesture. As they hugged, the radio changed from a Bon Jovi song to "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis. Amused since he hadn't heard the song in quite some time, Nate managed a chuckle. His arms kept wrapped around Lara, almost swaying with her to the tune of the song.

Eventually, Lara pulled away reluctantly. She realized that his touch sent her into episodes of blossoming emotions; emotions she didn't quite understand. She started to make her way back to the bank. Nate followed after, soon getting out of the water with her.

* * *

Nate and Lara had found a reasonable campsite that was relatively close to the newly found swimming hole. They were able to get a fire going rather easily (thanks to Nate snatching up one of Sam's lighters that he had forgotten from Sully's plane), and now sat next to each other. Embracing the warmth of the flames, Lara hummed out a happy noise. With both of them now clothed and dry, the only thing they had left to do was sit around the fire until they fell asleep.

Curious, Nate had flashed her a smile to tell her he was about to speak. "Since you got to know about _my_ wonderful love life, how about you tell me about yours?" he suggested. He suddenly leaned back and laid down, looking up at the night sky as he waited for an answer.

Much like Nate, Lara didn't talk much about her romantic interests. The question stirred something within her, but it was only fair to tell him. "Well… admittedly… I haven't had a lot of boyfriends. Obviously I've been on dates… I mean- I did at uni," she rolled her eyes. "I haven't went on a date in forever."

"And?"

"_And…_ I've technically only really had two boyfriends. And a few guys that have caught my eye."

"Any more info on that?"

Lara gave him an annoyed huff, punching his arm. In return, Nate gave a playful "ow." However, Lara decided to carry on with the conversation. "The one boyfriend wasn't anything special, if I'm going to be honest with you. But there _was _Chase Carver… I met him in the library. He was a yank like you," she laughed, rocking back and forth in remembrance. "He wanted to be a Navy SEAL after he finished uni. I remember he told me about his mother basically forcing him to 'get a degree' first… he went to UCL to get away from her."

Nate cackled a little. "And why was he so special?" he wondered.

"He used to call me 'Red.' But… then he ended up leaving to go back to America. Fulfill his little dream," she replied. Nate figured it must've been a "first love" sort of thing. Lara looked to him. "How many girlfriends have you had anyway?"

"Three, if we're counting the wife," he said. "But-"

"I don't need to know about the one nighters," she joked dryly. Lara laid down next to Nate then. She suddenly felt tired and heavy. Closing her eyes, she gave a soft breath. "Anyway… see you tomorrow."

Nate looked over to her. The fire light that hit her face reminded him of the first time he had ever seen her. "Nighty night," he muttered, closing his eyes.

"Night."

* * *

Lara woke up in the middle of the night to find herself shivering. She was cold, she needed some type of warmth. The fire had died out and she desperately wished she had a blanket. Her drowsiness, however, made her call out for Nate. When he had managed to stir awake, Lara asked him to cuddle her for warmth. Obviously not going to say no, the pair then found themselves spooning.

She smiled, leaning into his touch and becoming much more comfortable. Nate rested his chin on her shoulder. His breath hit her neck and she grew hot in response. He cracked his eyes open, realizing how she had reacted. Leaning down, he boldly placed a kiss on her neck. She stiffened.

As Nate began to kiss up her neck, Lara shivered. She didn't want to push him away, in fact she wanted him to do more. She pushed herself against him and his lips brushed against her jaw. "Nate," she whispered out.

She bit her lip. His hand traced over her side, dipping down. His fingertips gave feathery touches along her lower stomach. She felt her heartbeat get faster. His hand started to slide down then, painfully slow as she waited for him to…

Lara's eyes snapped open. She sat up in shock and gave a heavy breath, her brows furrowed since she was unsure how to feel. She didn't have dreams like that, not usually, and it freaked her out that it was about Nate of all people. She pursed her lips and looked over to him. He was sleeping beside her a few inches away. The fire was still going and the light hit his face in such a way that it showed his cheekbones almost perfectly. Lara winced. Why was she thinking of him like that?

Laying back down, she gave a sigh of frustration. _You are not getting a crush of all things, Lara. Especially not on him, _she told herself, not wanting to believe it. She hadn't developed any type of real crush since college. Yes, there was the occasional "he's cute," but nothing ever like a crush. She didn't want to get one on Nate especially. She had finally found someone other than Jonah that was easy to talk to, and she didn't want it to become awkward.

But he was charming, she had to admit. And he was funny and attractive. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. She was definitely getting some kind of crush on him.

"Damn it," she murmured. "Why?"

Her eyes looked back over to Nate. She smiled softly. _He's cute when he sleeps, _she thought, though she then slapped her hands over her face. "Oh, _god_," she groaned inwardly, annoyed at herself. Considering her situation, she turned her back to him and squeezed her eyes shut to try and get more sleep. She hoped she wouldn't have another weird dream.

* * *

**A/N: So, yeah... finally some more info on Elena. Elena and Nate still hold a good friendship despite being divorced and that'll be seen later on. No making people into bad guys here, just showing some mistakes in the relationship that both of them made. Both of them are human. I'll see ya next chapter!**


	12. Tenerife's Ring

**Uncharted & Tomb Raider don't belong to me. Only the OCs and plot used in this do.**

**Note: Got somethin' new for you guys. Enjoy!**

* * *

The pair had made it back to ShoreTrinity's base. Lara had a long night of being in and out of sleep, so when they finally left, she was relieved. After some small arguing over which way was the right way, they eventually found the established campground of the organizations. In overlooking the area, they could see that soldiers were packing up and were indeed getting ready to leave.

Nate nudged Lara. He hadn't thought this far ahead. How were they going to manage to sneak a ride so easily? "Any hitchhiking plans?" he asked her.

Lara's eyes scanned over what she could. They were hiding behind a tree, in which she had humoredly realized trees had been coming in handy lately. In thinking about what they could do, her eyes locked in on two soldiers with bandanas around their faces. She pointed over to them, considering they were quite close. "We're going to have to play a little game of dress up," she explained.

"Lara Croft, you are my hero," Nate joked quietly.

A sudden flashback crossed Lara's mind. She pictured Yamatai again. She remembered a voice.

_After finally reaching the top of the tower, Lara was now tuning the radio in order to try and gain any kind of aid. She stopped in hearing a man on the radio say, "You're tuned into the International Emergency Broadcast Response System. Please identify your situation and location coordinates and standby for response."_

"_Mayday, mayday. This is Lara Croft of the Endurance. We are stranded on an island in the Dragon's Triangle. We need help and medical supplies. Please respond," she said. Staring at the radio, she sighed when no one replied. "Come on, come on… mayday, mayday. This is Lara Croft of the Endurance-"_

"_This is aircraft N177A. Searching for you since the distress call from your vessel. Almost given up hope!" a voice from the radio finally replied. _

_Lara, who was beyond relief, looked at the radio with eyes of a new hope. "So had we!"_

"_We've got your approximate position, but we could sure use a visual."_

"_I'll figure something out."_

"_We'll be heading your way soon. Out."_

_From the handheld radio, Lara could hear the sound of hysterical laughing. The laugh of hope. It was a cheerful laugh that lifted her heart. "Lara Croft, you are my hero!" Lara heard through the handheld transceiver. It was Alex. "Hey, you know Reyes just actually cracked a smile."_

Remembering Alex, she smiled at Nate. "You really remind me of my old friend sometimes," she told him. "His name was Alex."

Nate looked over to her and gave the Englishwoman a smile as well. "Tell me more about him later," he said softly.

Nodding, Lara then grabbed onto Nate's duffel bag that was slung over his shoulder, unzipping it to see if she could find anything that she could throw so they could catch the soldiers' attention. She pulled out a bottle of water and zipped the bag back up, rolling it out so it would meet one of their feet. Noticing the bottle, a Trinity soldier picked it up and looked it over. He turned to the Shoreline soldier, holding it up. "Should we go check it out?" he asked her.

"It might be something," the Shoreliner replied.

The two began to step towards the tree. The Trinity soldier continued the conversation he was having with the other before they got distracted. "So, what's with your boss, huh? White's speech yesterday was crazy," the soldier said hoarsely.

"Her mom's got cancer, I think. All I know is it's some deadly disease."

"That's tough."

"Tell me about it," the female laughed. They stepped behind the trees and turned their heads only to be knocked out immediately by the two adventurers who were in hiding.

Nate started to undress the Trinity soldier and Lara did the same with the Shoreline soldier. Once they had gotten their new clothes, they quickly changed into them. They stashed their old clothes into the duffel bag.

Nate pulled out some duct tape from the bag. When Lara stifled a laugh at the sight of it, he gave her a look before he had crouched down. Taping the two soldiers together so they couldn't get up later, he said, "Duct tape is good to have just in case."

"Just in case of what? What were you going to do in the wilderness with tape?"

"Tape… something," he replied less confidently. He finished his taping masterpiece by covering the soldiers' mouths. Once that was finished up, the two were ready to go out into the campground after they had wrapped the bandanas around their faces.

Walking side by side, they looked around to see most everything was packed up and ready to go. This observation then lead to them to catching sight of Leo and Nadine. Nadine raised her fist up for everyone to pay attention. "Our helicopters will be here in less than a minute," she yelled to the group. "Be ready."

The pair gathered around where the other soldiers were. Waiting for the helicopters in that minute suddenly felt as if it were taking over an hour. The other soldiers talked amongst themselves. Lara tried to listen on some conversations to see if she could gain any idea as to where they would be going. Nothing was answered. Instead, she heard the loud blades of a helicopter flying in. Another one came in behind it. When they both had landed, Nadine and Leo walked into the one closest to them.

The soldiers soon followed suit. Nate and Lara followed them in an orderly fashion, hopping onto the helicopter and finding a seat.

* * *

Hours later, the helicopters had landed on another island. Shuffling out of the aircraft with the other soldiers, Nate and Lara overheard Leo speaking to the group. "From what we can gather, these people _loved_ coordinates," Leo said jokingly, inferring that the ring must've had such a thing engraved on it. "We're in Tenerife. That's all we know. We'll have to search the area for any clues."

Lara whispered to Nate, "How are we going to get the ring?"

"Swipe it when they're not looking?" Nate replied.

"Something tells me it won't be that easy, Nate."

Leo pointed out to the crowd. "We're in the less inhabited area. Make sure not to wander off and try to go to the water park," he warned, obviously not wanting anyone to go into the tourist town. "Be ready to survey the area. Twenty minutes." With that, Leo walked over to speak with Nadine. Nate and Lara followed behind him, though kept their distance as to not draw any suspicion to them.

Nadine, who had noticed that Leo had stepped over to her, sighed before she turned towards him. "Yes?" she questioned.

Leo brought the ring out from his pocket. He handed it over to Nadine. "I don't see anything here that could be leading us to a fountain, do you?"

"No… just looks like another scavenger hunt to me," Nadine replied. She began to look over the ring with a squint. She was trying to figure out what exactly it was that so special about the ring. Other than the coordinates, it felt as if it had no value. "This damn thing better lead us to something, White."

"It will. I promise."

She gripped the ring in a fist. Narrowing her eyes, she poked his chest. "How sure are you of that promise?" she asked, a sudden annoyance building up in her bosom. She was growing impatient. Leo's little stunt in Polynesia had left her frustrated. "If it doesn't… I-"

"Your mother will be disappointed in you."

Stiffening, Nadine held back anything else of what she was going to say. Instead, her face told her emotions of utmost anger. What he had said had hurt her, but she tried to hide her pain. She chucked the ring, causing Leo to jump in shock. "We don't need it. We'll be surveying the area," Nadine spat bitterly. She walked away from him and had nothing else to say to the man.

Nate nudged Lara. The ring was pretty much up for grabs since Leo was frozen in shock. "Come on, let's hurry up before anyone notices," he whispered. He grabbed her arm and began to walk towards where the ring was thrown. Right when the ring was in their sights, a soldier had stopped them.

"Hey, don't be trying to get out of this, huh?" he joked to them.

Laughing, Nate nodded to the soldier. "Wouldn't want to miss it for the world. Surveying is the best part of the job," he replied, in which the other laughed and waved them off. Relieved, the two of them walked over to the ring. Nate picked it up and shoved it into his pocket. "C'mon, let's go."

* * *

After a long walk, Nate and Lara had made it into the heart of the island. The street they were walking along was rather nice, considering all of the shops that were available to them. The pair stopped by a clothing store to get out of the heat and to buy some new clothes as well. Although they still had their original clothing in the duffel bag, they wanted to have clean clothes as well. "So… you have money on you?" Nate asked her.

Lara pointed to her boot. "I always have emergency funds in my shoes," she laughed. "I'm guessing you lost your wallet back in Florida?"

"Yeah."

She nodded. When they walked into the store, people had looked at them. They had been getting looks as soon as they stepped into the busy area of the island. They had gotten rid of the ShoreTrinity guns when they left, but considering Lara still had her bow on her back, and the two of them still had holsters, they figured it made sense for people to stare. Not liking the attention, Lara ducked her head down and walked over to the nearest clothing rack. Nate followed after her. He turned his back to hers and looked at the clothing rack next to hers.

Lara looked over a few shirts before grabbing a muscle tank that she liked. Nate, who had been looking at some tanks as well, suddenly looked over to her and smiled. "Is it just me or are the eyes super uncomfortable?" he laughed.

"No… they are."

Nate grabbed a grey tank top. The pair grabbed two other shirts and then grabbed a few pairs of bottoms. Along with that, they made sure to grab some undergarments. Walking over to the cashier, Lara grabbed her emergency credit card from her boot and handed it over to the worker. After checking out, the two grabbed their clothing and decided to change in the dressing rooms.

They made it back outside after changing into their new clothes, now gaining less looks even though they still had their weapons. Along with the duffel bag, Nate held onto their shopping bags. "I say we get food and call Sully," he said.

"Does Sully have two satellite phones?"

"Well, no- oh-" he murmured. He thought about that before shrugging. "Hopefully he'll be somewhere with signal."

Lara rolled her eyes. She put her hands on her hips as they stopped. "Well, after we get some food we need to find a hotel to wait for them in," she told him.

Nate bounced. He agreed with whatever she said, yet his eyes were off focusing in the distance. He soon grabbed her hand and laughed a little bit. "Yeah, yeah. I hear a McDonald's calling my name," he joked, dragging her along. Looking up, Lara realized there was, in fact, a McDonald's ahead.

When they had made it to the restaurant, Lara gave Nate a look. "Are you feeling more at home?"

"You say that like England doesn't have McDonald's."

"Yeah, but we don't eat it everyday like Americans."

"Hey, we don't eat it everyday," he laughed, getting in line to order. "We like variety. That's why we have so many fast food chains. Duh."

That had managed to make Lara giggle. She looked up at the menu and made a face. Admittedly, she hadn't eaten at a McDonald's in quite some time. Actually, she hadn't eaten _fast food_ in quite some time. She had been cooking for herself for awhile now. Unsure of what to order, she nudged Nate and asked him what he would get.

He looked over to her and grinned. "Well, I'm hungry so… nuggets… and a burger," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"_Both?_"

"I haven't eaten since-... holy crap, I haven't eaten since the manor."

Lara realized he was right. Neither of them had eaten since then. Pursing her lips, she nodded and looked back at the menu. She decided to get a salad (though she wasn't sure how good that would be) and a strawberry banana smoothie. They walked up to the cashier and Nate put in their orders. After paying, they walked over to a booth and sat down. Nate gave Lara a look.

"Who goes to McDonald's and orders a _salad_?"

"The same person who doesn't normally eat a lot of red meat," Lara replied. "I cut that out of my diet a long time ago. I mean, I still occasionally eat it… just not all the time."

"Why did you cut it out?"

"I think Yamatai ruined a lot of stuff for me," she admitted with a laugh. "Whenever I'm on these trips I just get sick of having to eat red meat sometimes… deer is okay until you have to eat it because there's nothing else."

Nate smirked. "Anything else you've had to eat?"

"Rabbit, which isn't as bad. Then there's when I get lucky and manage to catch fish."

"You sound like you camp more than anything."

Lara laughed again. "Yeah, I realize it might sound like that. My expeditions are just a mess… and I always forget to pack some kind of food. I never forget water, but food is a different story," she joked with him.

Nate nodded before he rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. "So… what? Poultry and fish are your thing?" he joked in return.

"Yeah, I prefer it."

Hearing their number get called, Nate got to his feet and walked over to get their food. Lara looked up and watched him leave. Her eyes managed to check out his butt before she had slapped a hand over her eyes. _You're not helping yourself with not wanting a crush on him, you know_, she thought. Sighing, she decided to just let herself crush. She couldn't exactly reverse it. It was done now. She realized it wasn't really bad to find someone attractive anyway. She was fine.

Nate walked back over and set their trays down. He managed to somehow make sure he only had to make one trip, balancing their drinks on the trays. He sat back down across from her and started to unwrap his burger. He revealed to her that he was eating a double stacked burger. Lara opened her salad up and started to pick at it as Nate took a big bite out of his own food.

Lara began to actually eat her salad. She looked over to the other and took a sip of her smoothie. "Go ahead and call Sully," she told him.

He reached into the duffel bag next to him and grabbed the satellite phone. Dialing Sully's cell, he put the phone up to his ear and waited. He set his burger down and grabbed a handful of fries before shoving them into his mouth. Grabbing his drink, he took a sip of his coke as he heard the other end greet him. He grinned and took another sip of his drink. "Hey, Sully," he said. He raised a brow when he heard the faint noise of music. "Where the hell are you?"

"We stopped to grab a bite to eat. Jonah offered to pay, ya know. He's a real nice kid," Sully replied.

"So, you got everyone?"

"Yeah. What about you?"

"We're in Tenerife. We're gonna get a hotel later and call you then so you know where to find us," Nate explained. He opened up his box of nuggets and ate one.

Sully laughed a little bit. "Tenerife? Isn't that a tourist… vacation… kind of ordeal?"

"It is. Ring led them here. But… I'll call you later."

"Okay. Bye, kid."

"Bye," he said, hanging up. He put the phone back into the duffel bag.

Lara perked up and made a face. "Could I have some fries?" she asked. Nate pushed his tray closer to her so they could share. She took a few fries and started to munch on them happily. Nate looked up at her and smiled somewhat. As silly as it was to admire her in McDonald's, he found himself doing it. Shaking his head, he decided to finish the rest of his burger.

* * *

Nate walked into his hotel room. The plan was to get three separate rooms; Jonah and Lara would bunk in one, Nate and either Sully or Sam would bunk in another, and then the remainder would get a room to themselves. That didn't work out. There were only two rooms left. Nate set the bags he had onto his bed and sighed. He grabbed the phone out of the duffel bag and called Sully. It hadn't been too long since the last call so he hoped he was still in cell range. When Sully had picked up, Nate sat down on the bed.

"Hey."

"Hey, kid."

"So, we found a hotel. It's uh… Sol… Costa… something."

"Very informative, Nate," Sully joked. Though he found there was a slight dip in the other's voice. "Something on your mind?"

Nate laid back on the bed. "Well… three of us are gonna have to share a room together. There were only two rooms left. I think you can figure out who the three are gonna be," he replied, groaning at the thought.

Sully stayed quiet for a moment before he said, "Me, Sam, and Jonah, right?"

"What?"

"Me, Sam, and Jonah. _Right?_"

Realizing what he was trying to do, Nate closed his eyes as he sighed. "Sully…"

"Kid, I already said I don't want you to rush. But I also don't want you to waste an opportunity. You might find something you like," the older explained. "A little flirting never hurt anybody. Hell, for all we know maybe you'll end up in a little fling-"

"_Sullivan._"

"Sorry, sorry," Sully cackled. "Anyway, tell Lara the change of plans. We'll be there soon. Take care, kid." He hung up before Nate could argue. Nate sat up and chucked the phone back into the duffel bag.

Rooming with Lara wasn't a big deal. It was the fact that he was scared of awkwardness. Sharing a room together was different from laying next to each other outside by a fire. He grabbed his bags and groaned in annoyance as he made it outside. Knocking on Lara's door, he tilted his head back and looked up. "Listen, man… I know you're probably mad at me over the whole 'running away from a Catholic boys' home' thing, but I'm begging you to make this easy for me. I don't want things to get awkward and stale," Nate muttered, seemingly talking to someone in the heavens. After saying what he had said, he then added, "I mean I do like her. I know it's probably too early to say that, but I do. So for my sake, please let this go good."

The door opened. Lara looked to him and smiled, "What is it, Nate?"

"I called Sully."

"And?"

Nate realized Lara couldn't read minds. He cursed himself out in his head for being an idiot. "He said he wanted to bunk with Jonah and Sam. So… that leaves us," he replied, hoping she wouldn't be too mad.

Lara's eyes widened. She bit her bottom lip before nodding, opening the door wider for Nate to come in. _Oh my god. Please don't let this be weird, _Lara thought to herself. She realized she sounded like a crushing teenage girl. She shut the door and internally rolled her eyes at herself. _You're both adults, not 15. _Though, thinking that made her blush in realizing how that could sound. Sighing, she shook her head and walked over to the bed she had claimed.

Nate set the bags on the floor, yet he threw one onto Lara's bed considering it was her clothes. "Should probably take a shower," Nate said aloud.

"Yeah, we both probably should."

"Together?" Nate joked dryly. Seeing Lara's red face, he then laughed awkwardly. She laughed in return. Ducking his head down, Nate grabbed the shopping bag of his clothes and grabbed a pair of underwear before he slipped into the bathroom. Closing and locking the door, he sighed and leaned against the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror and groaned.

He made his hands into makeshift hand puppets and mocked voices. "'I should take a shower.' 'Yeah, we both should.' '_Together?'_" Nate threw his hands up into the air. "Why would you say that? Oh my god." He put his face into his hands and inhaled deeply. "Good job, Nathan."

He walked over to the shower and turned the water on then. Shaking his head, he huffed loudly. "Since when is Nathan Drake an idiot over a girl?" he asked himself, stripping out of his clothes and hopping into the shower. "Probably because he hasn't been in the game for a long time… why is he referring to himself in the third person?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like an even bigger idiot. Sudden nerves of finding a girl attractive fluttered into his system and he didn't like it. Before Elena ever happened, flirting and getting a girl in bed came quite easily to him. Now, since he had been out of the bachelor life for quite some time, those skills were rusty.

What Sully said came back to him though. Sully didn't want him to rush into something again. Nate himself didn't want to do that, but he realized he couldn't go slow with anything either if he didn't try _something. _As far as the "fling" that Sully mentioned, he doubted that would happen, but if it did, he wouldn't be mad. Besides, maybe that would help strengthen whatever attraction there was between them. He decided to just let it go wherever, but understood that he would have to try his hand at finally flirting more obviously with Lara.

Finishing his shower, Nate got dressed and walked back into the room. He sat down on his bed. Lara had turned the TV on and decided to take her own shower a little later. She was laying on her stomach as she tried to find something on the TV, yet a lot of the channels looked to be in Spanish. Nate smiled over to her and cleared his throat. "Hey, you know… I still wanna know about Alex," he told her.

Lara perked up and nodded. She turned the TV off and laughed to herself as she sat up. "Right," she said, putting her hands in her lap. "Okay…" She patted next to her. She wanted him to sit next to her as she told the story. Rolling onto the other side of the bed, she stretched. Nate suddenly got flashbacks of the manor but smiled more, sitting next to her on the bed as he watched her stretch. Her shirt rode up her stomach and he looked over her; he couldn't really get over how silky her skin looked.

"Alex was the technician of the Endurance," Lara said softly. She rolled onto her side as she looked up at Nate, who was now sitting Indian style. "I remember he used to sneak comics into his manuals to look like he was doing work…" She laughed a little, remembering him warmly. "He was sort of the comedian of the ship."

Nate leaned back a little. "You said I reminded you of him?"

"I think if you put on a pair of glasses you would look a lot like him," Lara admitted. She furrowed her brows then. "I really miss him…"

Nate realized he was one of her friends who didn't make it off Yamatai. He nodded, sighing softly. "Yeah… I'm sorry, Lara," he murmured.

Debating on what she would say next, she stayed quiet for a moment. Eventually, she replied, "I didn't get to tell him how I felt before he died." She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "I just kissed his cheek… I still feel guilty about it."

"You shouldn't feel guilty about anything. I'm sure—"

"I just feel like— I feel like sometimes it should've been me," Lara sighed. She closed her eyes. "My uncle made me see a therapist after Yamatai…"

Nate made a face. He didn't think this conversation would lead into this. "And what did they say?"

"Well… I found out he worked for Trinity," Lara gulped. "But he said I had survivor's guilt. And even if a lot of what he said was fake I think maybe he was right."

The other suddenly laid down next to her. "Maybe… but I don't think your friends would want you to think like that," he uttered. "What else did he say?"

Lara looked to Nate. "I remember he asked me if I liked to be in control. He asked me if I liked killing those people," she let out. "He made me think a lot about that." She realized her voice sounded shaky. She gulped and squeezed her eyes shut. "Sorry. I'm probably oversharing."

"No, it's okay. You can talk about it."

"I don't want to bother you about it," Lara said.

He realized she was scared to share anything else, and he placed his hand on her stomach and playfully tickled her. He didn't want her to share anything she wasn't comfortable with. Instead, he would make her feel better. Lara pushed at his hand, laughing uncontrollably when he had begun his antics. "I didn't think you'd be ticklish, Biscuit," he cackled.

Lara giggled more, continuing to try to push him off. Eventually, she had managed to push him away from her. Making sure he wouldn't be able to attack her again, she jumped on top of him and gripped his wrists, slamming them down on either side.

Nate perked up, his eyes widening before he had decided to give her a sly smirk. She made a confused face in return. Realizing she was straddling him, her face grew red. She cleared her throat and let go of his wrists, quickly sliding off him and grabbing her shopping bag. "Well- I'll go take a shower," she said, bolting into the bathroom.

* * *

Lara and Nate sat across from each other on her bed. Nate had placed the ring in the middle of them and they were now looking it over. There were, indeed, coordinates engraved into it. There were also small grooves that he figured went with the same ones he had seen on the staff.

"So… it goes on the staff. Then what?" he wondered.

"I think another question is why it lead us to _Tenerife_ of all places," Lara responded. Tenerife was a long way from Polynesia. "I really doubt the fountain is here."

Nate took in a deep breath. "Yeah… I don't think it is either. But-... if this is connected to Prester John… why was his wife in Polynesia? John's kingdom was never theorized to be anywhere near Polynesia," he reminded her.

"Well… those notes said she took the key and ran away from John."

"Yeah… but what's the _key_ to the fountain? _Why _is there a key to the fountain?"

Lara grabbed the ring and studied it. Never has there ever been any mention of a "key" when it came to the Fountain of Youth. The sudden talk of one confused the both of them. "Maybe it was to keep people out. I mean… if Abella ran away from John to protect her people there had to be something more to it, don't you think?" she suggested. "I don't think Prester John was as amazing as a guy as the myths say."

"If he made his wife and people run off? Yeah, I don't think he was. Probably got consumed with power of the fountain," Nate laughed, considering that's normally how these things went. "They must've came here to hide the key… so the key must be somewhere in Tenerife… but the problem is that we don't know what it is."

"We'll have to go back and 'survey' the area like our 'friends' were doing," Lara admitted with a sigh.

* * *

Later that night, Sully and the others had made it safely to the hotel. It was peaceful for awhile. Lara and Nate had found themselves talking again. Nate had begun to tell Lara about his stories with Sam. He had even mentioned the prison in Panama, which surprised Lara more than anything. Although their conversation was fun and lighthearted, it soon came to an end when Sully had knocked on the door.

Nate opened up and smiled. "What?" he asked.

Sully held up his cellphone. "I got a call for ya," he muttered. "It's Elena."

* * *

**A/N: Finally, we have some awkward romantic tension. LOL, see you guys next chapter!**


	13. A Beautiful Stay

**I don't own Uncharted or Tomb Raider. I only own the OCs and plot used in this story.**

**NOTE: This chapter is a little longer than usual but that's because there's a lot of stuff that was covered. I didn't want to do ANOTHER chapter after this about the hotel, so I decided to just make this one a bit longer. Also, there's sexual themes in this chapter (yes, guess that gives you a hint of what to expect lol) so please be aware of that. Enjoy!**

* * *

Nate had took the phone from Sully. He was obviously a bit confused, but he walked outside onto the balcony and brought the phone to his ear. Closing the sliding door behind him, he leaned on the railing and looked out on the city.

"Hello?" Nate finally managed to say, realizing he had been silent and not giving the other any indication that he was on the line.

"Hi," Elena replied. Her voice sounded tired. "I hope I'm not bothering you. I tried to call your cell but you weren't picking up… Sully said you lost your phone?"

"Yeah. Long story."

There was a pause. What was so important for Elena to call him? He shifted his weight in anticipation.

"I had her today," she finally told him.

Nate perked. She was talking about the baby. She called him about the baby. "Oh," he cleared his throat, trying to think of what to say. Nothing came to him. He was at a loss. What did she expect for him to say anyway?

Elena sighed before speaking again, "I was stuck on a name for a long time." He could hear her shift. He could imagine her still in her hospital bed. "I only just today found one I liked."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"... Cassandra," she murmured. There was a twinge in his heart then. He wasn't sure how to feel about her naming her daughter after his mother. "I still care about you, Nate. I guess part of me still feels bad about what I did… maybe part of me wants to use this as some weird apology." She laughed lamely. "The truth is: I still want you in my life, you know? In some way or another… I'm hoping she'll help that."

Nate pushed himself away from the railing and began to pace the balcony. "I hope that's not the only reason you're naming her that," he responded.

"It's not. It's a nice name." She gave a soft breath. "But I hope our 'still friends' thing isn't just an act. I _do_ want you here—"

"Yeah," he sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck, standing still then. His eyes looked back at the door to see Lara and Sully talking in the hotel room. He clenched his jaw. He could feel something within him tear apart. He felt as if his soul dropped. Why did he feel like this? Why did he suddenly feel like utter garbage? "Listen, I gotta go."

"Right. I'm sure you're busy," Elena replied.

Nate thought for a minute. He nodded to himself in what he was trying to figure out. "I'll talk to you another time. Er— send me pictures of her," he said.

"Will do… bye, Nate."

"Bye." He hung up the phone, locking it. Looking at his reflection in the blank screen, there was something that hit him; he didn't want to deal with this. He walked back into the hotel room and handed Sully his phone back.

Sully tucked the device into his pocket, raising a brow. "What is it, kid?" he asked with concern.

"Elena had the baby."

"Is that why she called?" Sully mused, scratching at his chin.

Nate simply nodded. "Could I borrow some money?" He put his hand out to his friend. Sully looked at Nate's palm with a squint before giving in. After putting a few dollar bills into the other's hand, Sully then asked where he was going. "Bar," was Nate's reply. He left Sully and Lara alone.

Lara furrowed her brows. "He's upset," she sighed, rubbing at her arms. "Should we go talk to him?"

"I don't think he's gonna talk to me," Sully admitted. "If he asks me for money, he doesn't wanna talk. Already feels like he asked enough from me."

"I don't want him to get drunk," she uttered. "Not a good time for that."

"Go check on him then," Sully said. He pushed the girl out of the hotel room. "Maybe you can talk him out of doin' anything stupid." He started to walk to his own room. "God knows I've tried."

Watching Sully walk away, Lara realized she was stuck in a bad position. She could go back into her room and not even acknowledge the situation, _or _she could go check on Nate like Sully had suggested. She knew what she had to do, even if she didn't want to do it. She walked over to the elevator, only to see it was in use. Being impatient, she decided to take the stairs instead.

Five flights of stairs later, she made it to the floor where the hotel bar was. She walked in and looked around before finding Nate, already drinking his first beer. Though she was in shape, she gave a heavy huff from the stairs, making her way over to her friend. "Nate," she called out to him, leaning against the counter. "What happened?"

He looked up from the napkin he had been doodling on. "Nothing to worry about, Lara," he tried to reassure her. It didn't work.

She sat down next to him. "It had to be something to make you come down here," she argued.

He pursed his lips, a heavy breath exhaling from his nostrils. He dropped the pen he had stolen from the bartender and stopped doodling completely. He was tense. "Let me rephrase that: nothing I want to talk about."

"Nate… you can tell me. Please?"

He sniffled. He took a sip of beer and slouched over the counter sulkily. "She named the baby Cassandra," he muttered. "After my mom."

"I thought—"

"My mom killed herself after she got sick. Dad gave us up," he told her. He didn't look at Lara. "That's how we ended up as orphans."

Lara frowned. She didn't know it would have went that deep. She had figured they were just dumped from the start, but hearing more of the story only made her feel a deep longing of wanting to comfort him. But she knew he didn't want comfort. Not right now. "I'm sorry, Nathan," she decided to say.

He looked at his beer bottle. "Elena said she did it because she still cares about me… still wants me there. I don't know," he grumbled.

"Why is it bothering you?"

"I think because it stands as some weird way to honor me." Nate took a sip of his beer. Then another. He decided to chug it down. Setting the empty bottle down, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm the last person she needs to say sorry to. She didn't need to call me about the baby, or name her after something of mine." He gave an annoyed huff. "And after two years of nothing there's finally some effort."

Nate ordered another beer. Lara nodded. She could understand his frustration in a way. Even if Elena was just trying to put in effort to keep close as friends, it was still an effort that neither her _nor _Nate had put into keeping their relationship afloat. "Yeah… I guess that probably feels like a slap in the face," Lara replied. "But… you shouldn't be drinking your problems away… not right now, anyway."

Words from Sully repeated in his head after she had said that: _"I could've told you it would end this way_." The phrase he deemed infamous after hearing it so many times after making a mistake and then covering it up by alcohol.

"Listen, Lara," Nate started. "I'll be fine."

"I don't want you to get drunk and be hungover tomorrow."

"I won't be."

"I just think—"

"You have your ways to deal with problems and I have mine," he grunted. He downed the current beer he had before ordering yet another. He wasn't stopping, Lara found that obvious now. "Adiós," he laughed, grabbing the new bottle and lifting it into the air as if he were cheering.

Lara sighed. She got to her feet and nodded. "Just don't do anything stupid, Nate… that's what Sully said," she murmured.

* * *

11:37 PM. Nate still hadn't come back yet. Lara had pulled her hair out of her ponytail, sighing as she sat up in her bed. She was worried. Her mind ran with semi-ridiculous scenarios over what could have happened to Nate. She had been laying in bed for over an hour staring at the ceiling.

When a knock came at the door, she had hoped it was him, yet instead was greeted by Jonah. She pulled him inside before closing the door behind him. "I wanted to check on you, Little Bird," he said. "Sully told me Nate went to the bar?"

Lara led Jonah to her bed. They sat down next to each other. "Yeah… his ex-wife called." She bit at her thumbnail. "He got upset because she named her baby after his mother… but—"

"But what?"

Lara gave a heavy sigh. She plopped down on her back, crossing her arms over her eyes. "She was reaching out to him. It's like she's trying for some second chance… maybe she just wants a father for the baby," she sighed, almost feeling sympathy for the woman. "But now he's all over the place."

Jonah looked over his friend. Although she was telling him this story that wasn't the slightest bit amusing, he couldn't help but laugh. Lara peeked from behind her eye shield. Her look asked him what he was laughing at without her having to be vocal. "I'm sorry, I just don't normally see you care about people's personal problems so much," he explained.

"Well… Nate and I have been bonding," she shot back. She sat back up. "And I—… I don't know, Jonah."

"Your eyes say there's something you're not telling me," he smiled gently. "What are you hiding?"

Lara playfully pushed at her friend. "I'm not hiding anything, Jonah," she argued. Jonah stayed silent, but his brotherly look was something that burned into her soul. Exasperated by his gaze, she gave in. "Okay, fine. Fine."

Jonah cackled. He patted her knee. "I'm listening," he stated.

"Maybe… _maybe_… I find him attractive," she giggled, rolling her eyes. Saying it out loud felt silly and childish.

"Oh?"

"And—…" Lara fumbled with her thumbs then. "I had a dream about him."

Intrigued, Jonah nodded to indicate he was still listening. Not only did _the _Lara Croft admit to having a minor crush (something he never thought he'd hear) but now she was admitting to dreaming about said crush. "Go on."

"It's embarrassing."

"More reason to tell me."

Lara rolled her eyes. "I—… I dreamed about… you know," she admitted reluctantly. "Like I'm sixteen years old again… God." She slapped her hand against her forehead. "I just realized that."

"Lara… your high school years weren't exactly full of crushes and 'cute boys' like everyone else's," Jonah explained. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I think it may be catching up with you… and I think it's perfectly fine."

"Of course you'd say that."

"Well, what do you want me to say? It's normal to have dreams like that from time to time. It's normal to _crush _on someone and _like_ them," he gave a hearty laugh. He realized he sounded like an awkward parent trying to explain the birds and the bees. "I'm just telling you that everything will be fine, Little Bird."

Lara smiled softly. He was right, she just overthought everything. "Thank you, Jonah," she said. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. He returned the hug. They found themselves in this embrace for a minute or two before pulling away. "I think I'll try to sleep."

Jonah got to his feet and nodded. "Okay. Goodnight, Lara," he replied, playfully kissing her head as if she were a child. He walked over to the door. After she had told him a "goodnight" in return, he walked out and left her alone.

12: 45 AM. Nate still hadn't come back. Lara hadn't slept because of that. She got out of bed, standing there for a moment in silence before she found herself walking over to his side of the room, eventually sitting down on his own bed. She grabbed at one of the pillows and held it up to her face in a hug, smiling when she realized it had his scent from when he had been laying down earlier. There was a guilty pang in her heart though, considering she felt like she shouldn't have been developing any feelings for him. However, there was an attraction and crush there, and she couldn't deny it anymore, especially after admitting it to Jonah. And now, that crush was giving her some kind of comfort.

Lara pouted in realization, plopping down on her back. She huffed and kept hugging the pillow close to her body. Closing her eyes, she let another smile come across her face in imaging him there. There, next to her on the bed, laying down and smiling at her. She hated how charming his smile was. It wasn't fair. She turned onto her side and huffed, squeezing her hug on the pillow. "Stupid Yank," she murmured, though almost playfully in the sense.

The door rattled. She quickly shot up to see Nate stumbling in. He managed to close the door and lock it behind him lazily before his half lidded eyes came across Lara. He sat down next to her on his bed and flashed her a lame smile. "Hey, Biscuit," he murmured, taking his shoes off.

"Hi, Nate."

After managing his shoes, Nate had looked at Lara and then at her bed on the other side of the room. "What are _you _doing in _my _bed?" he laughed. He shook his head, finding it rather amusing. "Did you get confused?" He took his shirt off. He looked like he was getting ready to go to bed.

"No. Not really," she admitted. She cleared her throat. "You were at the bar for a long time."

"Mm… was I?" Nate asked, raising a brow. "Sorry." He tossed his shirt onto the floor, his eyes focusing on Lara. "Why are you in my bed?"

Lara sighed. "I was waiting on you," she said.

He squinted at her. Scooting closer, he poked her stomach. "On little ol' me? 'Twas I? _Really_?" Nate cackled. He was almost in disbelief over the statement she had told him. "Sorry I kept you waitin', Sugar… Biscuit…" She could smell the hint of alcohol on his breath then. "That was a dick move of me." One of his hands rubbed at his eyes.

"It's… fine, Nate."

He narrowed his eyes. His face was closer to hers now. "It's not," he slurred. He shook his head, giving a breath of frustration. "I shouldn't've… kept ya waitin'." They locked eyes. Lara could see his eyes were hazy. Blurry. _Not sober_. "Bad me."

She patted his chest. He was a little too close. He was drunk and didn't know what he was doing. "You should go to bed," she suggested. He kept where he was; in fact, he got closer. It felt like the room paused then.

Nate grabbed her hand. "I thought you were waitin' on me," he muttered. He pulled her into his chest. She looked up at him with a sigh.

"That's not what I meant."

He didn't hear that. Instead, his mouth smashed into hers. There was shock at first, but she found herself easing into the kiss. It was sloppy. It wasn't exactly what she imagined. He laid her down on the bed. Breaking the kiss, his lips then started to trail what he thought were soft kisses down her neck. Lara stiffened. She realized this wrong. Sighing heavily, she pushed him off. "Nate… you're drunk," she told him.

He was in a vulnerable state. She shouldn't have even kissed him back to begin with.

"And?"

"You won't even remember this tomorrow, you're not exactly in the right state of mind," she explained. She stood up and turned his lamp off before laying down in her own bed. She looked at him. "Get some sleep." She turned her lamp off.

* * *

Lara opened up the curtains that morning only to hear Nate groaning. He had woken up with a massive headache and wasn't enjoying the sun in his eyes. Feeling bad, she closed them back up and sighed. "Sorry," she said lowly.

Nate rubbed at his temples. He realized he had a hangover. "_I'm _sorry," he stated. "I shouldn't have—"

"It's fine. We'll just stay another day," Lara compromised. "I don't want you to go out like this. It's not exactly ideal." She sat back down on her bed.

He grimaced in return. He knew it was his fault they would be behind a day. Laying back down, he put a pillow over his face. "Fuck," he groaned. He hadn't had a hangover in awhile. The migraine pounding at his head wasn't pleasant. "I deserve this."

Lara snorted out a laugh. "Maybe," she agreed. "We should go get breakfast… it'll help." Nate threw the pillow to the side and sat back up. Rubbing at his face, he agreed to what she had said. Eating something would be good. He got to his feet and snatched at a shirt in his bag considering he had slept in the pants he wore the day before. After getting situated, the two had walked out of their room to go catch breakfast that the hotel offered. On the way there, they had seen Sully, Jonah, and Sam with towels slung over their shoulders.

"Are you… going to the pool?" Nate asked.

"Yeah… we heard you decided to get shitfaced last night so we figured we wouldn't be leaving too early," Sam smirked, cackling at his brother. "You two?"

"Breakfast," Lara replied. "Good guess though… we're just going to go ahead and stay another night."

Jonah nodded in response. He elbowed Sam with a joking looking before his gaze went back to Nate and Lara. "Well, alright then. You two have fun," he waved them off before the trio left.

Breakfast went by fast. Walking back into their room, the pair found themselves giggling and laughing over their conversation. When Nate shut the door, Lara plopped down onto his bed since it was closer. He sat down next to her and kicked his shoes off.

Lara, who was still laughing, began to take hers off as well. "No, really… you came in here like an idiot," she told him. "But it's okay, I didn't let you do anything stupid."

"Still… I'm sorry I did that," he replied, shaking his head. "I should've just sucked it up." His head still hurt somewhat but it had cleared up at least. He wasn't fully in pain like before. "But I guess as long as I didn't do anything…"

She looked over to him. She hadn't told him about the slobbery kiss. She didn't really want to. He didn't remember it. She didn't want him to remember it. "No, nothing too bad," she reassured him. She laid down on her back and yawned before she had found herself sneaking under his covers. "You snore when you drink." Nate gave a warm laugh. Lara looked over at him. "How do you feel? About the baby thing…?"

He shrugged. "I don't feel like thinking about it," he admitted. He jumped down next to her, flopping onto his stomach. He gave her a smirk, his gaze focusing on her as he rested his head on a pillow. With his arms slinking under it, he adjusted the pillow to his liking before he found himself more comfortable. Lara shifted in bed. She was laying on her side as she faced him. There was a calming moment to this. Gentle smiles were exchanged.

"I have a question," Lara let out then, exhaling heavily from her nose in amusement. "Or… an observation."

"And what's that?"

"Your brother doesn't look a lot like you," she laughed.

"Then who does he look like?"

"He sort of reminds me of an off brand Kevin Bacon," Lara said, which earned her a laugh from Nate. Enjoying the sound that rang from the other, she melted into the mattress, becoming completely relaxed. Full relaxation was something she hadn't got to enjoy lately. Now, speaking with Nate, it seemed to come quite easily.

He stopped his laughter only to say, "Yeah, I can actually see that."

* * *

The two had remained in their room for the rest of the day. They talked, watched TV, and at times even found themselves playing silly games. By 5:00 PM, Sam had knocked on their door. Lara opened it up with a smile.

Sam saw Nate sitting Indian style on his bed and drawing in his journal. He could hear a car chase happening from the movie playing on their television. He looked back to Lara. "We were thinking of grabbing a bite to eat by 6," he explained.

"Sounds good." Lara leaned against the door. "What about 6:30? We can all meet at the hotel's dining room."

Sam nodded. When he had left, Lara shut the door and walked over to Nate. She saw he was sketching out the basics of a head. He had all the basic guidelines mapped out, now he was just needing to draw the actual facial features and details. She sat down next to him and tilted her head as she watched him work. "What are you drawing?" she wondered aloud.

"Would it freak you out if I said 'you'?"

"No," Lara murmured. "I'd more so be flattered."

Nate gave a soft cackle. He looked up at her for a split moment to catch the shapes that made up her face. His hand sketched out soft strokes that began to take basic forms of eyes, lips, and a nose. At some point, his eyes shifted from his paper to back to Lara. He wanted this drawing to be much better than his last one of her, in which he didn't even have a reference to use.

Lara didn't mind his eyes on her. Usually, attention like this bugged her, but when it came from Nate she didn't care. She felt comfortable under his gaze. That, and this reminded her of when she was younger. "My mother was an artist," she said in a whisper. "She used to paint me a portrait for every birthday." Her lips curled into a smile of bliss. "We'd paint together a lot."

"I saw a picture of you two at the manor," Nate told. "You painted a t-rex." He looked at his drawing. He had gotten her eyes out the way he had wanted. "Your mom, though… she had skill."

"I didn't?" Lara teased.

Nate began to draw more of her nose. "No, no… that t-rex was pretty detailed," he joked with her. "If you had kept it up maybe you could've been the next da Vinci."

The sarcasm in his voice was astounding. Lara giggled, rolling her eyes before she had decided to continue on about when she was a child. "You know… I used to climb the roof and act like I was an adventurer… or spy… or, I remember one time I acted like I was this maid who was actually a double agent undercover or something," she smiled, laughing between her words.

"You were climbing the manor when you were a kid?" Nate asked in surprise.

"Well, without any permission, of course."

Nate began to finish off the nose. "Yeah… Me and Sam used to sneak out of the orphanage and climb buildings," he said. "Guess it helped in the long run." His eyes looked up to Lara's face so he could see her lip shape. They were thick and looked rather soft. He wanted to describe them as pillows, as cheesy as he knew that sounded in his head. "Lara?"

"Hm?"

"How many people have you told you're beautiful?"

Perking, Lara's face twisted into confusion. Her mind raced in trying to figure out the numbers. Her parents. Roth. Sam. Jonah. Winston. Her ex. People had called her pretty in the past but the word "beautiful" felt rare. "Seven people," she replied in confidence.

Disappointed by the small amount, Nate nodded. "Are you one of them?" he wondered. That could have been taken as a dumb question, but he hoped she understood what he meant. He went back to his drawing, his eyes no longer focused on her exclusively.

"No," Lara admitted. "I think I'm rather plain."

As Nate continued to draw her face, he knew how wrong that statement was. He finished her lips, darkening the lines of her head shape. When he was satisfied with the sketch, he handed the journal to Lara. "You're beautiful," he reassured her. "Make it eight."

Her eyes looked over the drawing. Seeing her face made up of strokes from a charcoal pencil, she gulped almost in disbelief. How did he manage to make her look so… "beautiful"?

"Nate…" she started, her breath sharp. "This is— how did you do this?"

"I drew what I saw," he simply answered. He brushed some hair away from her shoulder, considering it had irritated him.

"You had to have added something," she argued. She had been drawn so pretty that it felt like he had adjusted parts of her face. "What was it?"

He laughed, finding her disbelief to be amusing. "Lara… I didn't do anything." He pointed at the drawing, smiling. "It's not perfect by any means considering it's a quick sketch… but it's you." He looked over at her then, their eyes meeting. "Why can't you just make it nine for me?"

Lara noticed his tactic. She closed the journal and handed it back to him. "I'm beautiful," she said sarcastically. "I'm so beautiful that the world should bow down to me."

Nate cackled, shaking his head as he leaned back on the bed and set the journal on his nightstand. He laid down on the bed with his head now comfortably on a pillow. "I guess that's better," he replied.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, crawling over next to him. She playfully patted his chest like a drum. "I'm just—"

He grabbed her hand in his. "You're what?"

Their hand holding suddenly made her freeze completely. She realized he was flirting with her. She gulped, trying to regain herself. "I—… God, I forgot," she laughed, focusing on their hands touching still.

Nate started to play with her fingers. He was silent for a moment before he gave a breath of comfort. "Despite all the crap you've been through, you still have this warm and youthful complexion to you, you know," he murmured.

"You don't sound like Nate," she replied, teasingly.

"You're just a good face to draw," he said jokingly. "And to look at."

She looked down at him, her mind starting to clutter. "You too," she had lamely shot back. She wasn't exactly good at flirting. Nate stopped playing with her hand. He had let it free. He smiled up at her and she returned the favor.

"Is that so?" he asked, laughing in response. Lara's hand rested on his chest. She leaned forward, pressing her weight on him as she gave a soft breath. He watched her before he had rested his hand on top of hers. With their hands touching again, he looked up at her face. "Lara?"

"Yeah?"

There was suddenly tension in the air that could be sliced through with a butter knife. It wasn't scary tension, or something that made either of them nervous; it was something that both of them knew very well. Something was bound to happen. His fingers started to trace up her arm, but he didn't really say anything. Not verbally anyway. He clenched his jaw before he had leaned up and pecked her lips, in which the other stiffened somewhat before quickly relaxing into his touch.

Lara leaned down and kissed at him more. Deepening the kiss, Nate began to sit up. He grabbed either side of her face and slipped his tongue into her mouth. When they had finally pulled away, they looked each other in the face. Time had slowed down. They realized what they had just done, and what they wanted to do, and that nothing was holding them back from doing anything further. Nate's hands slipped off her cheeks and rested on her shoulders. He decided to give her a smile.

She grabbed one of his hands and looked at his toothy grin. If this were going to happen, she wasn't going to stop it. She had already felt sexual tension between him beforehand, and letting it finally be cured sounded delightful to her ears. She brought his hand to her mouth and she began to kiss his knuckles. Her lips brushed against his hand before she had given a breathless laugh.

Nate took his hand away from her mouth, grabbing at the edges of her shirt. After pulling it off for her, he pecked her lips. He tossed it to the side, the other soon pulling off his shirt for him in return. His hands ran up sides, feeling her soft skin. Lara stiffened a bit at his touch, mostly because she hadn't been touched like that in quite some time, yet she soon melted into it. She took off her bra for him, in which he then pulled her closer to his body. He had started to plant kisses on her neck and jaw.

She looked down at his pants. Lara fumbled before unbuttoning them, starting to pull them down along with his underwear. Pulling away, he helped her by playfully shimmying out of them. He then did the same with her shorts. The two shared laughter, finding this little activity amusing before Nate had managed to lay Lara down on her back.

His eyes trailed over her nude body beneath him as he sat up. Another artistic masterpiece. His head ran wild with thoughts of wanting to draw her like this, but he shook his head, focusing on the moment. He leaned down to kiss her lips again. His hand ran down her stomach. "You're sure?" he asked, whispering before going any further.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing at his jaw. "Yeah," she replied, biting her lip as she awaited. "I'm sure."

* * *

Lara rested her head on his chest as they shared heavy breaths and smiles. Nate goofily whistled, grinning down at her. "_That _was worth the wait," he joked, his hand rubbing at her back. Feeling at scar tissue, he looked down to see the scarring he had noticed earlier during their activity. He didn't say anything then, obviously, but he found it odd he hadn't noticed it at the swimming hole. His fingers began to trace the scars that were on her upper back. "How did you get these…?"

"A jaguar," she replied softly. "Thankfully Jonah was there… if he hadn't been I probably would've been lunch."

Nate smiled at how Lara had pronounced "jaguar." As his fingers traced over her the scars, in which he now could make out as scratches, he admired her. Though, his eyes looked up to see the time, in which he quickly jerked up. "Crap," he groaned. "Dinner."

"Oh," Lara sat up, soon getting to her feet. "I forgot about that." She stumbled as she picked up her clothes. She ran to the bathroom, considering she had to go. Nate put on his clothes as he waited for her.

Looking over to the satellite phone on the nightstand, he managed to cackle in remembering Sully had talked about this. Rolling his eyes, he ran a hand through his hair. Lara came back out of the bathroom after a minute or two. "Okay," she laughed. "Let's go."

* * *

Nate and Lara sat next to each other at dinner. Jonah looked between them, though offered a smile. "So… what have you two been doing?" he asked curiously.

"Nothing crazy," Nate replied. "Talking, you know?"

"That's it?" Sully grunted, raising a brow. "You've just been talking?" He sounded in shock. How could two people do nothing but sit around and talk in a room all day?

"We did other things. But that's the gist of it." Nate shook his head as he took a sip from his drink.

Sam smirked mockingly. "What other 'things'?" He lifted his glass, a teasing cheer coming from him before he sipped at his own drink. Nate replied to him with a groan of playful annoyance. "What? It's a genuine question."

Nate put his hand up to gesture for the other to stop. "I _know _you, Sam," he cackled.

Jonah looked over to Lara. He wondered if anything like what was being implied by Sam had actually happened, especially after what Lara had told him. If that were so, it really would be like she was going through teenage hormones again. Amused by the imagery, he stifled a laugh and took a bite of his food.

"Nothing of the sort," Lara told Sam. "Your mind is just in the gutter."

Laughter was shared between the group. Sully pointed his fork at Lara. "You're right," he agreed. "But I'm sure your conversations were all the rave."

Lara took a bite of her food with a smile. "Well, _I _think they were interesting. Weren't they?" she asked Nate, a tilt in her voice. Nate nodded in response, chortling a bit.

After dinner, Nate and Lara found themselves walking back to their room. Nate had slyly suggested a round two, and Lara accepted the offer. He quickly chased after her down the hall in a dumb little game, in which she giggled.

Squealing at being caught at the door for having to unlock it, she rolled her eyes. She opened the door up and Nate had playfully slapped her behind, kissing her cheek as they shuffled into their room.

* * *

The next morning came quickly. After checking out of the hotel, the group went back to where Sully had landed the plane. The walk there had consisted of Nate and Lara staying close and talking to one another, the two friends sharing giggles and laughter. Now, somewhere in the wooded area of the island, they all stood in Sully's plane. Lara was holding the staff, soon sliding the ring they had gained and snapping it into place. The eyeglass on top of the staff faintly lit up, though nothing drastic happened.

"Isn't this supposed to be the part where we 'ooh' and 'awe'?" Sully asked sarcastically.

Lara looked over the staff, her face scrunched up. "I'm not sure… there has to be something else to it," she murmured.

"Between this and the key there's a _lot _to it," Nate reminded her. He sighed as he started to pace, trying to think. Though nothing really came to him, and it upset him that he couldn't come up with anything.

Jonah crossed his arms. "Then what's our next move?"

"We have to find the key," Nate murmured.

"Well, that sounds easy enough," Sam said, yet he thought about that for a moment. "But I'm sure it's easier said than done."

Nate nodded. "We don't know what the key is… and our 'friends' are looking for it too." He clenched his jaw for a moment. Shaking his head, he gave a heavy breath. "So… who's up for a scavenger hunt?"

* * *

The group walked to where ShoreTrinity had been when Nate and Lara had first came to the island. Although they were surprised no soldiers were there due to Leo losing the ring, they guessed ShoreTrinity had decided to move on since the new piece of the puzzle was more important to them. They had left the staff back at the plane, just in case, since they didn't want to take any chances.

"Okay, let's split up," Nate suggested. "We'll cover more ground that way."

"Splitting up never ends well, Nathan," Sam joked.

Nate ignored the comment. "Me and Lara will take over there." He pointed to a general area. "And you three can take—"

Sam shook his head, putting his hands up. "No, no, no. Me and _you _will take over there. Sully, Jonah, and Lara can take the other spot," he corrected him. Nate, who was a bit turned off by that suggestion, was quick to argue, yet had no chance when Sam pulled him over with him. The others got into a group as they had been told and began to search the area.

Nate pushed at Sam in annoyance. "What's this all about?" he questioned. He wanted to go with Lara. What was Sam trying to do by changing the groups like he had done?

"Ooh… I have questions, Little Brother."

* * *

**A/N: Lara and Nate had some fun :^) We're looking forward to more flirty/romantic interactions between the two since that brought them "closer" together. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I really liked FINALLY writing some good romantic-like interactions with the characters. Love you all as always!**


	14. To The Fountain We Go

**I do not own the Uncharted or Tomb Raider series, only any OCs used and the plot of this story.**

**Hey! This took a little bit to upload because I recently got busy with school starting back. Sorry for that. Uploads may be a little slower now but don't worry, I WILL keep updating until we reach the end of this story. **TRIGGER WARNING: this chapter contains a segment of Lara talking about the sexual assault she encountered in Yamatai, so please be aware before you read this. If you are easily triggered by such subjects, please skip over that part!****

* * *

Nate sighed, annoyed by his brother's antics. Walking away from the others, they found themselves in private. "What _kind _of questions?" he asked.

Sam leaned against a tree, looking at his brother, who was actually starting to look for some kind of clue or "key." He crossed his arms and grinned down at him. "You and the broad. Really giggly today," he murmured, giving his observation. "Something going on?"

"Sam."

"I already know you like the girl, Sully told all of us," he explained, laughing. "So? Did you—?"

"Even if we _did_, I respect her enough not to tell you," Nate replied, rolling his eyes. Crouching, he pushed some large leaves back and squinted, huffing when he was met with nothing.

His brother nodded, humming out a questionable tune. He wagged his finger at Nate then. "You telling me that tells me that you _did,_" Sam shot back.

Nate stiffened. Irritated by how his brother could read him, he gave a groan. Looking up at him, he narrowed his eyes. "Okay, fine. We had sex," he admitted. He rubbed the back of his neck, a soft breath escaping before he decided to stand back up.

Sam perked, his brows raising. He pushed himself off the tree and laughed, giving Nate a brotherly shove. "Well, look at you, Little Brother! Didn't think you could get her," he joked. "I mean, she _is _a little out of your league—"

Giving a crooked smirk, Nate found one of his brows raised in listening to his brother. "You doubted me that much?" he cackled, crossing his arms. "I was the one getting girl after girl while you were locked up in Panama." Though, he scrunched his face up. "Listen—"

"How was it?"

"I'm _definitely _not telling you that," Nate said, stopping the conversation. He held his hand up and shook his head. "All you need to know is that me and Lara had sex. Actually, you didn't even need to know _that_, but…"

Sam patted his brother's shoulder. "Fine, fine," he chortled. He gave him a sloppy cheek kiss to annoy him on purpose. "Let's get to lookin' then." His eyes looked around the ground, then to Nate. "Any idea on _what _we're looking for?"

"Negative on that," Nate replied.

"So… look for something shiny?"

"Never failed us before."

Meanwhile, the trio was looking around a few feet away from the brothers. Lara searched around a few bushes, sighing in frustration since she couldn't see anything other than grass and dirt.

Jonah crouched down next to her. "You were smiling a lot on the way here," he whispered, his voice having a happy tone. Lara normally had her R.S.F., or "Resting Serious Face," as Jonah called it. Whenever she smiled, it made his heart flutter like a butterfly.

"Was I?" she asked, managing out a small giggle. "I didn't think I was."

"You were."

Sully glanced over at them and stopped searching for a moment, focusing in on their conversation.

"Well, I guess I was," Lara agreed. She pursed her lips together, crossing her arms. "This is going to take a long time."

"_Lara,_" Jonah muttered. He knew something had to be up for how much she had been smiling earlier. "I know you told me about your little school girl crush—"

Lara pushed at Jonah playfully. "Shut up, you idiot," she replied, amused at what he had said. "What?"

"Well, I'm just wondering… you two seemed to be more close knit now," he stated. "Did something happen?"

She looked over his eyes and thought for a moment. Should she tell him? Her heart suddenly beat heavily, and she could feel that she was a little nervous. Fumbling with her thumbs, she finally nodded. "We slept together," she uttered.

Sully wasn't too surprised, but he kept himself from laughing. He began to act as if he were looking again in order to not draw suspicion to himself listening to them.

Jonah smiled gently at her. "Really? I wasn't expecting that actually," he said.

"Me neither," she laughed awkwardly. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, ducking her head. "Especially after Yamatai…" She bit her lip, giving a heavy breath. "I want to tell him… I want him to know."

"Well, you did give him a lot of trust," he said, grabbing her hands and squeezing them in his larger ones. "Something I don't see you do often… and to do that… well…"

She looked at their hands. "Yeah… I just want him to know that. It's important." She pulled away and stood up. "I will later…"

Jonah got to his feet as well, nodding to her before he started to look around. Sully wondered what it was she wanted to tell Nate. He guessed it was whatever happened in Yamatai. Taking his attention back to looking for some kind of key, he let it slip his mind.

* * *

About an hour and a half passed, and when the group was finally ready to give up, Sam had yelled about finding something. All of them ran over to him. He was standing in what looked to be a man made hole, only about three feet deep. It looked to be around 6 feet wide, which made it quite obvious in being _something_. It was a little out in the forest, which made sense as to how ShoreTrinity hadn't caught sight of it in their first survey of the area.

Sam pointed at the ground. He had noticed something poking out of the dirt. When he dusted off what was sticking out, he saw it was the edge of a metal box. Eventually he was able to dig a bit and wiggle it out, revealing a chest the size of a jewelry box. In fact, he figured it was one.

Lara hopped in the hole, her eyes wide. "Oh, wow," she said to herself. She took it from Sam and looked at the box before opening it up. The others followed after, standing behind her and next to her to see what was in it.

When she opened it up, ancient jewelry was inside, including earrings, cuff bracelets, and a necklace. Lara, however, noticed the singular gold coin that laid on the bottom of the box. Picking it up, she held it up to show that one side had the symbol of the moon, and the other had the symbol of a woman. Squinting at it, she tried to read what it said.

"The Source of Life. 1521," Lara whispered. She turned the coin around. "Belia."

Nate put his hand on Lara's lower back, grinning. "I'm guessin' this might be our key," he told her. The others gave a round of cheers, considering they no longer had to do so much work. Lara laughed, nodding in return. She leaned into his touch.

"I think so." She set the coin back into the box and handed it over to Sam, who decided to hold it for the rest of the time. Furrowing her brows then, she sighed. "But the staff… I don't think that has _anything_ to do with it."

Climbing out of the hole, the group began to go back to the plane. Nate agreed, glancing around for a moment before looking back to her. "I think the staff might be another little riddle," he mused. "There has to be a reason for that weird eyeglass, right?"

"Unless they just wanted to make it look snazzy," Sully joked.

"I don't think so," Nate laughed.

Lara nodded. "We'll see when we get back to the plane."

* * *

Sam stepped outside the plane for a smoke, leaving the others inside. Nate and Lara were looking over the staff again, the jewelry box now sitting next to Jonah on the bench across from them. Sully sat next to him, watching them.

"I don't know, Nate," Lara sighed. "I'm lost here."

Nate scratched at his jaw, the stubble against his fingernail giving somewhat of a pleasing noise to Lara. He looked up to Jonah. "Can you give me the box?" Jonah nodded, handing him what he had asked for. Opening it up, he grabbed the coin and looked at the symbols on it.

"What—" Lara started, yet stopped when Nate raised his hand. He pointed to the coin.

"It's the moon, Lara."

"What do you mean?"

"'Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon,'" he reminded her. "We sacrificed our blood." He set the coin down and grabbed the staff, setting the end of it on the floor. He gestured towards the eyeglass on top. "Now we gotta look at the moon."

Lara's lips parted. She realized what he said had to be right, and she was almost annoyed with herself for not remembering the riddle. She couldn't find the right words to say.

Nate laughed. "Just have to wait for the moon to come out," he said.

Sam finished his smoke and came back in. Seeing the grin on his brother's face, he raised a brow. "Did you get it?"

"Yeah," Nate replied. "We got it."

Lara blushed. She wasn't sure why "we" made her feel a certain way. Maybe it was because she had felt he did all the work, and that she didn't need any credit. Maybe it was because she was so used to being a lone wolf. Regardless of what it was, she liked it for some reason.

When night fell, Lara and Nate had walked outside with Sully. Nate held the staff, his eyes on the full moon. "Well, here goes nothing," he murmured. He held the staff up so that he could see the moon in the eyeglass. The dimly lit area of the glass soon shone a light onto the ground, revealing the shape of what looked to be a map.

Lara, surprised, began to pace around the image. "Oh my god," she muttered. "How did they manage this?"

Nate laughed, "I have no idea."

Lara snapped out of her admiration. She looked to Sully. "Can I see your phone?" she asked. Nodding, the elder handed her what she had asked for. She smiled, thanking him before she swiped to the camera app. She made a face as she backed up. "Hm… I need to get a little higher up to take a good picture."

Sully put his hand out to Nate. "Give me the staff. Lift her up," he told him. Nate gave him the staff, in which Sully was able to keep it in its right place.

Nate walked over to Lara, bending down so she could get on his back. "Come on," he said. Lara climbed on, laughing a little since she hadn't done such a thing since she was a child. She managed to find herself sitting upon his shoulders to take the picture, aiming the phone at the map.

Snapping a few photos, she yelled in victory. "Got it!"

Sully put his arms down. "Good. My goddamn arms were starting to get tired," he complained.

Nate began to playfully rock from side to side, making Lara grab onto his head. "_Stop_," Lara told him, shaking her head with a giggle. The other cackled. They began to walk back to the plane, though in reaching the door, Nate cleared his throat.

"Gonna have to get off," he told her with a smile.

Lara hopped off, walking into the plane with everyone else. Sully closed the door up and sat down in his pilot chair. "So, where are we going?" he asked. Lara handed him his phone, in which he found the best looking picture of the map and squinted. "Looks like it's near Malaysia."

"Guess we're looking for an island by Malaysia then," Nate stated, patting Sully's arm. "Let's get going."

Sully cackled, getting the plane ready in response. "Eager."

After getting everything situated, the plane had taken off. On the ground below, a Trinity soldier that was surveying another area looked up in hearing the sound of it flying above them. Grabbing their radio, they brought it up to their lips and spoke into it, "I think I spotted the enemy."

* * *

Hours had passed and it was currently Nate's turn to pilot. Everyone else was sleeping, but Lara tried to stay awake so she could speak with Nate alone. Sully had even offered the co-pilot chair, in which she graciously accepted the offer.

"Nate?" Lara asked, her voice low. She was rather tired.

"What is it?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"I don't like that you're starting with that," he joked with her. "Of course you can."

Lara paused, thinking how she would go about it. She decided to just go for it. "I trust you… a lot," she told him. "Especially to have—…" She pursed her lips, leaning back in the chair. "I think the reason I didn't have sex in a long time was because of what happened in Yamatai. I think it… I don't know…"

Nate made a face. He was suddenly confused, but he decided to let her finish before saying anything.

"There was a man who tried to—…" she started, but she figured she didn't have to finish the sentence, so instead she simply let it trail off. "He didn't, of course… but he was my first— my first kill." She looked down at her lap. "And I've never forgotten that…"

The other perked in response, not having expected to be told such a thing. He chewed at the inside of his cheek since his stomach had dropped. Hearing what her first kill was over made his soul clouded, as if there were an overcast within his heart. "Lara—"

"I wanted you to know," she murmured. Her eyes looked back up at him. "Because you changed that, I guess." She rubbed the back of her neck, giving a weak laugh. "So…"

Nate tried to think of a way to respond. It was hard to find something, he just knew he still felt terrible over what had happened to her in the past. Even if she didn't have to experience such a dark matter, she still had to experience the horrors of sexual assault and killing in self defense. He couldn't imagine how terrified she had been then.

Clearing his throat, he nodded to her. "I'll always be here for you, you know," he randomly blurted out, his mind still racing. "And if you ever need to talk about anything or vent, you can always come to me." He sighed, trying to think more. "It's just that I really c—" He heard the sound of a soft snore then, his eyes glancing over to see Lara had fallen asleep. "Aaaand you're asleep." He laughed to himself, shaking his head. "Well… sleep tight, Biscuit."

* * *

"Well?" Sully asked, unsure of where to land the plane.

Lara squinted, comparing a paper map Sully had to the picture on his phone. She then managed to point at an island she thought was the right place. "That one," she said. "I think that's Belia."

"Belia's been all the way out here, huh?" Sully cackled, starting to prepare for landing.

Nate leaned back on the bench, his arms crossed. "Lara's dad said it'd be somewhere near Asia," he reminded him. "Guess he was right."

Smiling, Lara nodded to confirm such a thing. "Dad was right about a lot of things." She set the map down and held onto Sully's phone until they landed. Leaning back in the co-pilot chair, she gave a soft breath. She wondered how the Fountain of Youth would look. Would it compare to the myths? Would it be completely different? And how exactly would they be able to stop ShoreTrinity from getting to it anyway? These questions ran through her head, but she tried to push them away.

After landing, the group got out of the plane. Lara held onto the coin, putting it into her pocket. Nate walked next to her as they all began to make trek into the inner island, away from the beach.

"What do you think?" Nate questioned.

"I think… we're on an uncharted island. What could go wrong?" she replied with a smile, side eyeing him. He gave a soft laugh, enjoying her statement since he knew plenty of bad possibilities.

As they made their way into a more jungle area, parts of what looked to be an ancient civilization started to reveal themselves. The past began to show up, and when they finally came across the ruins of an ancient city, they realized that history had finally caught up to them.

Lara's eyes trailed over the old architecture ahead of them. "This is incredible," she murmured, the group starting to walk into the city for a closer look. "This must've been Prester's kingdom, right?"

"Wonder where the castle is," Sam joked.

Nate nudged Lara. "Wanna look around?" he asked. "Might find the fountain."

"You two go ahead. We'll look around too," Jonah reassured them. Jonah, Sully, and Sam then went on their own to explore, leaving the pair to themselves.

Starting to walk into a building, Nate's eyes darted from place to place in seeing new details and architecture. Lara began to look around as well, seeing if there was anything important. As they kept walking into the center of the building, the soon found themselves being able to look at every wall and corner. Nate perked in seeing a mask on display, walking over to it as Lara was distracted by everything else.

"This place is beautiful… I wonder what it was like when it wasn't in ruins," she thought aloud. Her eyes then caught sight of an odd contraption coming out of the wall. Right when she was going to call Nate over, she felt a hand grasp her shoulder and heard a growling roar behind her. Screaming, she quickly turned around only to see Nate wearing a mask that looked similar to a tiger.

He pulled the mask off and cackled, holding it up to her. Lara slapped at his chest. "Stupid bastard," she said, though she couldn't help from laughing herself. She looked at the mask and raised a brow. "Where did you get that from?"

Nate pointed back towards a podium. "Over there. Cool, though," he murmured. He set the mask down then, obviously pleased with his work. "You _really _should've seen your face."

"Oh, shut up," she replied, rolling her eyes with a smile. She nodded over to where she was looking earlier, grabbing onto his hand. "Come on, I think I might've found something." Practically dragging him over, the two were soon in front of a wall that had a small square of what looked to be gold. There were gears on it, and in the center there was a small circle carved out. Squinting, Lara soon grabbed the coin from out of her pocket. She gestured to Nate that she would use it, placing it inside the circle.

Once placed inside, she had twisted it fully in. The twist made for the gears to start turning and working their full potential, the sound of a heavy door sliding open. To the right of the gears, the wall was sliding open, having been disguised. The two stepped back and awaited for it to fully open. When it had, the two peeked inside. It was a small slope that went into what looked like a cave area, though it was well lit from the sun. Stepping inside, they saw there was a hole up top, keeping the cave from the dark.

"Cave inside, huh?" Nate said. "That's a new one."

After a few more steps, they finally stopped to see a body of water. On the other side was another entrance to the cave, one that was mostly covered by shrubs to make it hidden, other than a small trail that the two assumed animals had made over the years. Walking over to the water, which looked more like a lake than an actual fountain, the two were understanding that they had finally found what they had been looking for.

Lara smiled. "Not what I was expecting," she muttered.

"Should we… you know," Nate suggested, giving a laugh. "Take a sip?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe not right now." She sat down at the edge Indian style. Nate sat down next to her. "It is pretty though."

Her companion agreed. He tilted his head as he looked down into the water. "It kind of… stinks though," he admitted. "Am I crazy?"

Lara sniffed the air, scrunching her face up. "Yeah, it does kind of have an odd odor to it actually," she murmured, a bit confused. "But maybe that's just the magical properties." She shook her head, laughing at such a thing.

They put their hands close to one another's. "Yeah. Maybe that's it," Nate said, entertaining to the idea. "I'm guessing this might be somewhat of a popular watering hole for animals too…" he pointed to the trail in saying such a thing.

"Possibly."

"I wonder how it works on animals."

"I don't know."

Nate looked over to her and smiled softly. His eyes trailed over to their hands and he decided to rest his on top of hers. She looked over, but instead of pulling away she decided to flash him a smile in return.

"I don't think you really need a sip of the fountain anyway," he told her.

"Yeah?"

He laughed, nodding in reply. This was a moment of bliss it felt. It was calming, as if it had been calling them for quite some time. Though, it didn't last very long at all. They heard the sound of gunshots being fired from outside and they quickly shot up to their feet. Running back into the building, Nate grabbed the coin and placed it into his pocket.

The two readied themselves by getting their guns, walking outside and swiftly taking cover from being seen. Peeking out, Lara could see Sam, Sully, and Jonah being attacked by ShoreTrinity. Confused, she got back under cover. "It's them," she told him.

"What? How could they have found us?" Nate questioned. Lara shrugged, just as unsure as he was. Sighing, he nodded for them to start going towards the action.

However, that plan was stopped short when the gunshots stopped. In what felt like a split second, their friends were then in the hands of ShoreTrinity. Leo and Nadine managed to show up by then, greeting their new hostages in vain. Leo looked out in the distance, knowing that Nate and Lara were somewhere. Yelling, he let out, "Come out, come out, little ones… we have your friends!"

Panicked, Lara and Nate looked between each other. They couldn't shoot in fear of their friends being injured or killed. Nate frowned, suddenly getting to his feet and holding his hands up to show he wouldn't attack. Lara, who realized this was one of their only choices, soon followed suit. She sighed softly, furrowing her brows. When Leo caught sight of them, he nodded with a widening smirk. He began to make his way over to them, the soldiers that held onto the trio following after him, along with Nadine.

"_There_ you are," Leo smirked, raising a brow. "I should've just used one of your friends this whole time, hm?"

There was no answer.

"Well… let's cut to the chase. I'm assuming that you two know where the fountain is," he said, his eyes suddenly cold as he stared at them. "You're going to show me where it is."

Nate pursed his lips before he gave a smile, laughing a little bit. "We haven't found a fountain," he replied. He wasn't telling him where it was for now.

Lara nodded in response. "He's right. We haven't found anything yet," she agreed.

Leo squinted. He felt as if they were playing a game with him. They were toying with him for fun. He didn't like playing such games. He stiffened, his face hardening as he glared over at them. "That's fine," he murmured. "We'll get it out of you." He lifted his hand and gestured for the soldiers to get the two treasure hunters. "Maybe you'll remember where it is when you wake up."

There was no time to react before the soldiers' guns slammed into both of their heads. They fell unconscious, in which their friends watched in obvious worry. They themselves were unsure of their own fate, so everything as of now was blurry and confusing.

* * *

When Nate woke up, his head pounded from the blow he had suffered from earlier. His blinking was slow as he tried to regain himself, unsure of what exactly had happened. Feeling the grips of rope around his wrist, he gave a heavy breath in realizing he was tied up. He managed to look up, his eyes seeing that he was in a more open area. In fact, he realized he was inside one of the buildings lost to the ruins.

"Good morning, mate," Leo said sarcastically, walking over in front of Nate. "You were out for quite awhile. Long enough for us to start a talk with Ms. Croft."

Nate looked at the other, narrowing his eyes. "If you hurt her-"

"Oh, _I_ won't," Leo laughed, putting his hands up defensively. "I've been waiting here with you. Nadine took Lara next door. I can't promise _she_ won't hurt the lady."

Grunting, Nate tried to jerk out of his ropes then. Leo was amused by his actions, considering he knew Nate wouldn't be escaping anytime soon. He grabbed onto the dagger that he held on the sheath of his pants, starting to twirl it around in his hand as he hummed. He was going to play games with Nate since they had played games with him.

"Listen, Mr. Drake… I'll let you go see Ms. Croft _after_ you tell me where the fountain is. I really don't think she's going to talk… but you?" Leo bent down, smiling in Nate's face mockingly. "You seem a little less resilient."

Nate sucked at his teeth; he didn't like the situation at all. There were risks everywhere. He couldn't escape some kind of screw up here. "I'm not talkin'," he murmured. "I've gone through worse than a little blade."

Leo raised a brow. He grabbed onto Nate's chin, grinning as he stared at the other painfully. He let his blade start to drag across the man's neck, enough to draw blood, but not enough to truly do anything. "You won't have to endure anything if you just tell me where the fountain is."

"Not happening."

Leo pulled away and growled. "That fountain is vital for humanity. It's vital for our salvation and for God's work," he argued. "Are you going to be the one that keeps everyone away from a miracle?"

"It's funny, I don't remember learnin' anything about this in Catholic school."

The other wasn't amused by this comment. Leo quickly slammed the dagger into Nate's thigh, in which a muffled scream came in response. Nate furrowed his brows and winced, the pain shooting through his leg and going up his body. His breaths became shaky as Leo gripped the dagger's handle and started to wiggle the blade around. "I'll stop if you tell me where," he bargained.

Nate gulped. The wiggle of the blade in his thigh was much too painful for him to comprehend anything. It wasn't until he heard a scream of woman from the next building when he yelled out for Lara, hoping she was okay. Leo only continued with the blade. Nate groaned in what he thought was misery, finding his eyes welling up with tears. "What is she doing to her?" he questioned.

"I don't know," Leo replied.

"I won't tell you anything if she's not okay," Nate hissed. "Forget it."

Narrowing his eyes, Leo grunted. He snatched the dagger out of the other's thigh, in which another wince was heard. Putting it back in its sheath, he put his hands on his hips. "Lara fucking Croft," he growled to himself, shaking his head as he looked at the floor. "I'll come back in a few minutes. I'm not guaranteeing I'll have Lara, so you better get that fountain in your damn head." Obviously annoyed, Leo walked out of the decaying building to outside where Nate assumed some ShoreTrinity soldiers were.

Nate leaned back in his seat, breathing heavily from his nostrils. His leg still stung, but his thoughts were of worry for Lara. The scream had scared him. Terrified him even. He had no idea if she was okay or not.

Meanwhile, Nadine walked outside to meet with Leo. She was wiping spit from her face, angered and annoyed. "She won't budge," she murmured.

"What was all that screaming about?" Leo questioned her, squinting his eyes.

"Your soldier," Nadine replied. "I wanted to teach Lara a lesson of what would happen to her."

"...So what did you do?"

"I took your soldier's eye," the woman replied. "It didn't help."

Leo, a bit taken aback at first, cleared his throat before nodding. It wasn't the fact that it was one of his soldiers she had injured; it was the fact that she had performed the action. He hadn't expected such a thing from Nadine, even if she was a rather ruthless woman.

"Alright," he simply said. "Drake won't talk either."

"We'll get them to talk eventually."

Leo clenched his jaw. He would hope they would, but at the same time he felt as if it was hard to get that to happen. If they wouldn't talk, he would force them to lead them to the fountain on foot. He was tired of playing games is all he knew.

If they weren't willing to help humanity, he would force them to.

* * *

**A/N: Happy to finally post a new chapter! Love you guys (gotta say that each time bc yall gotta know)**


	15. Not-So-Magical Fountain

**The Uncharted and Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. Only the OCs and plot do.**

**Note: Back with another chapter. A lot going on in this one but gotta say some of it is pretty fun. Enjoy!**

* * *

Lara was sick of her restraints. After watching Nadine take an eye from a soldier, she realized she needed to leave quickly. She was scared about what could happen to Nate, and when Nadine left, she swiftly got to work in thinking of an escape plan. She scooted her chair back where she had seen a table behind her. Realizing the corners were rather sharp, she would try her best to cut her ropes somehow. She sighed, furrowing her brows as she began to work on the ropes the best she could.

"I hope he's okay," she murmured to herself. "I swear to God if they hurt him…"

Thoughts of the past fluttered her brain. Trinity hurting friends and family before hit her like a truck, and she decided to bury those memories into the backs of her mind. She wanted those memories to stay dead, but it felt as if they tried to come back alive any chance they got.

She continued on with her ropes, trying to keep herself away from the thoughts still. Her eyes stung as the idea of Nate being badly injured or even dead crossed her mind. Trinity took so many people from her and hurt so many people she knew, she was scared to think of the possibilities. But regardless of how much she _didn't _want to think of them, the scenarios kept slamming into her brain. Her eyes burned as she began to feel tears well up in them, her hands shaking as she kept sawing the ropes off. When she had finally gotten her wrists free, she bent down and untied her ankles, sniffling since she felt like she couldn't stop the tears that she knew were coming.

She got to her feet and turned to look at the table, her vision somewhat blurry as she grabbed onto the knife Nadine had used earlier on the soldier. As her only means of defense, it meant she would have to keep a low profile and not get caught by anyone. She wiped her misty eyes and began to sneak out of the building, making her way across to the other one, considering Nadine had told her that was where Nate was being held. She managed to go unseen, which she held a deep breath of relief over. After making it to the entrance of the new building, she quickly dipped in, her eyes darting around to see Nate sitting in his chair tied up like she was earlier.

"Nate," she let out, speed walking over to him.

"Lara?" He looked up to see her, his brows raised in surprise. Flashing a weak smile, he gave a small laugh and sighed. "You came to my rescue, huh?"

Lara glanced down at him. A few strands of loose hair fell over her eyes and she managed a tiny giggle in response to what he had said, though her expression of relief in seeing him okay soon turned sour when she noticed blood on his leg. Soaking through his pant leg was blood from the thigh stab that Leo had given Nate earlier. "What the hell happened?" she questioned him, now concerned over his health.

"Aussie just tried to get the fountain outta me," he replied. "Nothin' big. I'm fine."

The woman sucked in her breath. She knew she had to go on with saying it was fine, only because she needed to get him out of there and they needed to save the others. Exhaling, she nodded in response and bent down in front of him, cutting the ropes around his ankles before she walked behind him. Her hand instinctively held onto one of his as she started to saw at the rope.

Nate felt there was a tension in the room. It was weighing down heavily on Lara, whom he felt was holding something back and just not talking about it. He decided to not make her talk about something she didn't want to. Instead, he went towards another direction as she cut his ropes. "You know the ring I have?" he suddenly asked.

"Sir Francis Drake's ring as you told me on the plane," Lara murmured.

"It's fake," he admitted.

Lara had completely cut the ropes then. She walked back in front of the other, who was now rubbing at his wrists. "Fake, huh?" she repeated.

Nate looked her over. "I _did _have his ring, but I lost it in the trip to Iram — long story — and I, um…" he trailed off, trying to think of what else to say. "Yeah, guess I didn't tell the whole truth again in our story session." He gave her a playful smile, seeing that Lara had grabbed a piece of fabric that was on the floor. She wrapped it around his thigh. "What I'm trying to get at here is—… Drake isn't my ancestor."

Lara tightened the fabric, tying it to make sure it would keep in place. Nate gave a small wince in return since it agitated his wound. "I know," she replied simply. "Drake didn't have any children."

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Even _if _your story was going on the fact that he had an illegitimate child… I already figured out there was no way you were a true Drake anyway," Lara teased him, patting his good thigh. "I just knew there was more to you than wanting to follow in your ancestor's footsteps. Even if I haven't found out what that is yet." She looked him in the eyes then, and suddenly her remembrance of earlier fluttered her mind. She was looking at a well and live Nathan Drake, despite a few cuts and bruises. She could feel her eyes mist up like they had earlier, and she tried to stop it before he could see.

"Lara…?" he whispered, furrowing his brows when he had noticed her odd change in character.

Lara looked away, looking down at the ground. She was still on her knees and she felt if she tried to stand up she would fall. She knew they needed to leave, especially if Nadine or Leo were to be coming soon, but she couldn't bring herself to stand. Her body began to shake and the images of what she had thought of earlier came back to her once again. The memories of her father's death by Trinity. The memories of Jonah almost being hurt by Trinity. The memories of Sam being Trinity's puppet. Her mind was flooded with Sam being in Trinity's mental institution before she had escaped in the possession of Himiko. Although Lara had managed to save her, she hadn't seen Sam since then in hopes that she would be safer from Trinity. She missed one of her best friends.

"Lara," Nate repeated. "Lara, what's wrong?"

"I thought…" Lara began, gulping. Soon, she lurched forward and hugged around Nate's waist, who almost fell out of his chair due to the sudden force of the hug. He wrapped his arms around her in worry of her current state, not having seen her act like this quite before. Lara dug her head into his chest. "I thought I might lose you… like I did my dad… like I did Sam…"

"Sam?"

"She—… she was 'S' in my blog," she sputtered, realizing she was throwing a lot onto him suddenly. "After Yamatai, she was put into an institution th-that Trinity owned." She gave a heavy breath, keeping close to him since it made her feel better. "After I helped her I—… I told her parents to take her somewhere where Trinity couldn't find her. I… I haven't seen her in so long… she was like my sister…"

Nate remembered that she kept the identities of everyone in the blog secrets with letters, and suddenly it all made sense to him. He hadn't connected those dots when she had told him about Alex (or "A"), but he could now about Sam. Sam was the one who had been involved with the ritual over Himiko. Nate held her tighter and started to rock Lara gently, shushing her since he didn't like seeing her like this. "Lara…" he started, trying to think of what to say. After a long pause, he said, "I'm fine. It's okay."

"I know," she sighed heavily, shaking. She knew she probably sounded overdramatic. She hated that.

"Do you know where Sam is?" he asked curiously, in a whisper.

Lara pursed her lips. She kept quiet, which informed Nate that she didn't know. Instead of prodding further, he decided to drop the subject and stroke her hair. He shushed her again when he had heard her whimper. This was new; Lara had never broke down quite like this before, not in front of him anyway. Then again, he realized that losing someone like that hurt.

"I get it," he finally said. "I know it hurts. But at least you know she's safe."

"But—"

Lara looked up at him. He stroked the hair away that stuck to her face due to her sweat, sighing softly. "Once upon a time, I thought I lost _my _Sam. It killed me for a few years," he admitted, his throat feeling like it was closing up. "I thought he was dead until he showed up one day at my old job." He looked into her eyes. Her normally warm and chocolate colored beauties were now cold and filled with hurt. He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head, wanting to give her more affection. "We should go. We gotta get Sul—"

Lara pushed herself up to her feet, "I know." She grabbed onto his hand and helped him up, though Nate found himself grunting due to his thigh. He would be able to walk it off, he thought. The two began to sneak out of the building.

"I'm sorry," Lara said softly.

"About what?" Nate replied, starting to sneak over to a building that was surrounded by guards. They figured the others would be there.

"You having to… deal with me," she let out, giving a breath of despair. "I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have done that to you. I just…"

Nate raised his hand in defense. "Don't apologize," he simply told her. "It's okay, Lara." He looked up at the building in front of them and sighed, the two ducking down into some nearby tall grass to stay hidden. "I don't know how we're gonna get in there," he whispered, obviously having no ideas.

"I… I don't know," Lara responded. Her heart began to beat faster. She still wasn't over what had happened a few minutes ago, and her body felt like it could explode any minute. Why was she suddenly not able to control her emotions? Why did she feel so bottled up and ready to let loose? She furrowed her brows and tried to hold in her whimpers. Inside were three people that could easily be killed if they did something wrong. Her best friend, Jonah, could be killed because of her actions. Nate's brother and what she realized was his father figure could be killed as well.

Her surroundings started to become blurry. All she could hear was her heart beating in her chest. She looked to Nate, who she could make out was talking, but she couldn't hear it over the thumping in her ear drums. She felt hot streams of tears start to roll down her cheeks but she wasn't sure if she was making any noises. Was she sobbing? She couldn't tell anymore. The stress and anxiety were kicking in and she didn't like it; she felt as if gravity were weighing in on her. "I don't… I don't know…" she repeated, unsure of what else to say.

"Lara?" Nate asked, seeing her condition. "Lara, calm down." He looked back to where the guards were before back to her. "Lara, listen to me. _Please_."

She wished she could, but everything was still a blur. She could feel herself become lightheaded as she breathed heavily. Her eyes began to flutter shut as her head pounded.

"Lara." Nate's eyes widened when she had began to fall forward, catching her in his arms. "Lara..? Lara!" he suddenly yelped, his voice faltering. He wasn't quite sure what just happened. He let out a heavy breath. He could see she was still breathing so that was a good sign, but he had given away where they were.

Lara was passed out and it was obvious he wouldn't be getting her up anytime soon. He gulped, squeezing his eyes shut as he heard the sound of soldiers' feet walk their way.

"It's them. Tell White and Ross they tried to escape," a soldier said.

* * *

Lara groaned as she started to come to. She slowly opened her eyes, looking around to see she was in the building where the fountain had been. She realized she was being carried by two soldiers, her feet dragging along the floor. Looking around at her surroundings, she saw Nate being held by another soldier up front. He was leading them. She squinted and made a face; there was no sign of Leo or Nadine anywhere.

"A wall?" The soldier who held Nate growled, pressing his gun to Nate's temple. "Do you think this is a joke?"

"Let me open it," Nate murmured, trying not to do anything stupid. The soldier backed off and allowed him to do so, though not without a warning. Nate grabbed the coin out of his pocket, looking over to Lara for a moment. There had been a soldier that followed behind her the entire time that held a gun; it was supposed to be Nate's motivation in leading them to the fountain. Gulping, he turned his attention back to his task. After placing the coin into the wall's "lock," he twisted it. He stepped back, the wall sliding open and revealing the cave.

"Well, I'll be damned," the soldier grinned, nodding to his fellow colleagues. He pushed Nate to go in first, in which they followed after him again. He led them to the fountain inside, the soldier pushing Nate over to the others who held Lara.

Nate grunted, caching himself from falling. He looked up to notice Lara had woken up. "Lara?" he said lowly, trying his best to be quiet.

She stood up on her own and snatched out of the other soldiers' grips, who were all now too fascinated with the fountain to care. "What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out," he explained. "They found us."

"We're gonna get one helluva raise for finding the fountain," a soldier thought aloud.

"To hell with that. I say we keep this to ourselves and strike it rich," another suggested.

Then, one of them stepped forward towards the body of water. He kneeled down and cupped his hands. "Might as well take a drink," he joked, scooping up some of the water and bringing it up to his lips. After taking a little sip, he got to his feet and made a face. "That taste _terrible_."

Nate and Lara watched over the soldiers. They were mainly interested in how the water reacted when someone drank it. The soldier didn't seem to change any appearance wise, so maybe nothing happened physically.

"You don't look any younger," one of the soldiers joked, causing for the others to laugh in response. The laughter was soon broken up by the sound of coughing then, turning into a gagging. The soldier who had drank from the fountain held onto his stomach, doubling over in pain. Confused, Nate and Lara watched closely to see what exactly was happening.

The soldier gagged and dry heaved, sounding like he was having difficulty finding air. Eventually, the man fell onto the ground on all fours, coughing up blood with furrowed brows. It was quite obvious he was in pain.

Nate stepped forward, "What the hell's wrong with him?"

"I don't know… he doesn't have a medical condition or anything," a soldier lamely replied, worried and not seeming to be too focused on the fact the Nate and Lara were basically free right now.

Lara gave a heavy breath, looking from the fountain to the soldier. It had happened right after he drank from it, there was no coincidence there. She opened her mouth to say something but was quickly cut off when the man finally collapsed, no longer coughing nor breathing for that matter. She jumped in surprise. "Oh, shit," she murmured.

Nate looked over to Lara. He seemed to understand her thoughts, thinking the same thing as she was without having to communicate it with her. He backed up to get closer to her and looked to the soldiers. "Listen, I don't think it's safe to dr-" he began, yet stopped when he heard a splash come from the water. "What the hell?"

There were water rings and bubbles in the water now, which made the others grow suspicious. Though, eventually, the bubbling grew more rapid until what looked like the top of a head began to crown from under the water. Before they could figure out what was happening, the group was watching what looked to be a disfigured, mummified person walk out of the water. The skeletal figure stopped at the bank, water dripping off of its decaying skin. It was impossible to tell if the person was male or female or not.

Lara grabbed onto Nate's hand almost out of instinct, starting to back up even more with him.

The mystery skeleton tilted its head. It acted almost as if it were looking at the dead man on the ground, regardless of having only eye sockets left. Once it had spotted the man, it walked over to him, grabbing him and slinging him over its shoulders.

One of the soldiers grabbed their gun and aimed it at the thing.

"_Wait_-" Nate started, wanting to warn the soldier against shooting. However, it was too late when a bullet went through the skeleton's chest. It didn't stop its journey, rather it only continued to walk back to the fountain's water.

The group of soldiers began to freak out amongst themselves, soon agreeing on shooting at the creature. The cave was soon full of bullet shots, and Nate and Lara tried to make their way towards the exit while this happened. They kept their eyes on the water though, seeing the skeleton dump the body into the water. When this had happened, Lara stopped for a moment to see the full transition of the water's color go from a pretty blue to a dark, gruesome red.

"Oh my god," she whispered out, her eyes widening in shock.

"What?" Nate asked, turning around to see that there were now dead bodies of both humans and animals floating in the water, having the similar mummified look of the skeleton. "Holy shit."

The bodies began to sink back down to the bottom of the fountain after the water started to turn back to normal. After taking the fresh body, it seemed to have been pleased. The skeleton, though, turned around to the soldiers who shot at it. There was a split second of what seemed like calm before it had charged after them, making Lara and Nate finally run out of the cave. Nate twisted the coin of the wall's lock and snapped it out of the place, making the cave shut as soon as the pair heard one of the soldiers screaming. He shoved the coin back into his pocket and gave a heavy breath of relief before looking over to Lara.

He grabbed onto her shoulders and checked to see if she was okay. "Are you alright?" he asked first.

"I'm- I'm fine," she murmured. She pointed towards the exit they had just escaped from, gulping. "What was that?"

Nate parted his lips. He wished he could answer her. He wished he knew. He wished there was something that even pointed towards a clue to whatever the hell they just saw. "I'm just as lost as you, Lara," he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It looked like a mummy, right?"

"It did," she said, trying to figure out what they had just seen. "Oh, god." She grabbed onto his hand again and began to pull him out of the building. "We have to find the others still."

"Crap," he groaned, realizing they probably got relocated after their last mishap. "Strangers trying to kill us. Mummies roaming around the Fountain of Youth. Sully and them's missing, most likely dead. That's great. Great start, Us."

Lara swiftly walked out of the building with Nate. "And don't forget no guns, no bows, no anything," she sighed. They were defenseless. "Do you think they moved them?"

"Maybe," Nate replied. "Then again… those guys didn't tell anyone they were leaving. I mean, you heard them in there."

"Well, then, maybe we'll be lucky," she said. "Come on." She began to walk with him again, still holding onto his hand.

* * *

Nate and Lara leaned against the wall outside of the building they had remembered that the others were in. They were lucky enough to be done with the initial soldiers that guarded the outside, but as Nate peeked in, his confidence level was low. Nadine and Leo were both inside interrogating the trio. There were a few soldiers that stood guard with them. He looked back over to Lara.

"I got nothing," he admitted. "There's like 6 soldiers and both of them are in there."

"Ross and White?"

"Yeah," Nate sighed. "If we try to go in there attacking with no weapons we're getting shot on the spot. We'd have to sneak in, but I don't know if there's any back ways. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

Nate made a face. "I don't think you're gonna like it," he replied.

Meanwhile, Nadine paced the floor. "So, you don't know?" she asked the trio, looking over at them with narrowed eyes. They were tied up just as Nate and Lara had been earlier. "I really don't believe that."

"Lady," Sully sighed, shaking his head. "We haven't seen no goddamn fountain yet."

Leo placed his hands on his hips. "You better not be lying," he murmured, yet he perked up when he had heard a shuffling from the entrance. He made a face before sighing, turning around to see who had been walking in. He was met with both Nate and Lara walking in with their hands up. Surprised, he looked them over, his soldiers raising their guns in case something were to happen. "Well… look at what we have here."

Nate saw the trio tied up. "Y'ello," he greeted the man sarcastically. "How's it goin' in here?"

Nadine stepped forward. "How the hell did you escape your restraints?" she growled, obviously frustrated.

"Relax. We've come to… surrender," Nate said bitterly, hating the word rolling off his tongue.

Leo squinted in confusion. "Crofts don't surrender," he pointed to Lara. "She's a stubborn one."

Lara sighed. She shook her head, trying to reason with him. "No, this is different," she replied. She looked to Nate before back at Leo and Nadine. "We needed to _warn _you. The fountain isn't-"

"Wait…. You found the fountain?" Nadine stopped her.

"We did, but it's not what you think."

"Where is it?" Leo asked, yet Lara sighed in response.

She gestured between her and Nate, needing Leo and Ross to listen to them. "It isn't all magical like the myths say," Lara explained. "Nate and I… we saw something in there…"

Leo snorted.

Nate made a face. "Have you ever thought about _why _all those myths never had legitimate evidence? It's because none of the people who actually drank from it ever came back," he stated, trying to think. For a moment, he was silent before he was able to finally find the thought. "Some of your men were there and they got killed by… this corpse."

"A _corpse_?" Nadine replied, scoffing.

"I'd show ya but I don't wanna get my ass handed to me like your men," Nate said, squinting at her. "The fountain isn't safe. We're telling you now so you don't make a mistake."

Leo stepped forward then. "We're going to take any risks needed in order to fulfill God's needs," he growled. "This little corpse is nothing." Then, he gave a smirk. "But now that you two admitted to knowing where it is…"

"Don't do this," Lara begged suddenly. "It's only going to end in more bloodshed."

There was a moment of silence. Leo ordered the soldiers to stand down. "Why were my soldiers in there without my permission?" he asked, suddenly realizing such a thing. "They're supposed to report back as soon as they got any news."

Nate made a face before giving a soft smile. "Well, some of them talked about selling it or something for themselves. I don't really remember," he told. It was a white lie of sorts, but he knew what it meant in return for him.

Leo looked to the soldiers before ordering them out of the building. He wasn't risking anything. Once they had made it out of the building, he placed his hands on his hips.

Lara pursed her lips. "Can you at least let go of them first?"

"I'll let you talk to them. I need to give you motivation to show me the fountain," Leo replied.

Nate sighed. He nodded, however, following Lara to the trio. Lara stood in front of them and Nate sneakily stepped behind Sam.

"We'll get you of here," Lara muttered to them.

Nate nodded, grabbing the knife he had taken from Lara earlier out of his pocket. He placed it in Sam's hand before grasping his brother's shoulder with a firm grip. "Sit tight, Big Bro," he joked dryly, in which the other understood. He walked back over to Lara and then looked to Leo. "Alright. We'll take you to the fountain, as long as you don't hurt them."

Leo smirked. "Lead the way," he murmured, in which the pair walked ahead of Leo and Nadine, "guiding" them to the fountain. In reality, there was a trick up their sleeve; at least they hoped it would work in their favor.

* * *

**A/N: Well... come on... I couldn't make a UC/TR story without some kind of fun supernatural threat. Where's the fun in that? Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed!**


	16. Show Me The Magic

**The Uncharted & Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. Only the OCs and plot do.**

**Note: Back at it again with the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy**

* * *

As Nate and Lara led Nadine and Leo to the fountain, they remembered the screams of fear they had heard from the men. That _thing _had killed them, that was obvious. Though neither explorer knew what it was, they also knew that the only way to get Nadine and Leo to listen to them was to actually show them. Nate knew that Nadine had never been exposed to any supernatural or paranormal beings. He figured she was most definitely a skeptic and the idea of a creature probably seemed silly to her. With Leo, Lara wasn't quite sure.

Nate looked to Lara as they approached the entrance to the fountain once again. Sighing, Nate opened it up and revealed the cave to Nadine and Leo. There was a moment where the two stared inside, though eventually they shoved Nate and Lara forward to continue being their guides. Once they finally reached the fountain itself, it looked as beautiful as it did when the adventurers first saw it; when they were ignorant of the secrets it held.

"So, this is it, huh?" Nadine murmured, crossing her arms as she looked it over. "Doesn't look that much like a fountain to me."

Leo held his hand up; a gesture in showing he disagreed with her statement. "But it is," he said, walking up to the water. He squatted down and looked it over, in which Nate made a face. Did he really want to warn the guy?

Going against his better judgement, Nate decided to reach out to the other. "I wouldn't stand too close," he warned.

"Because?"

"We already told you. That… weird… mummy thing," Nate lamely replied, realizing how stupid it sounded coming out of his mouth. He sighed. While he knew it was a bit weird to believe, he also knew he didn't really want to see the corpse guy again. Though, at the same time, he knew seeing the creature would be the only way those two would back down from wanting the youth of the fountain.

Leo shook his head and laughed gently. "Tell me… when did this creature come about?" he asked.

Lara pursed her lips. She knew he wanted the full story. "It was after one of the soldiers drank from the fountain," she responded. "He started coughing blood and-..." She paused. Something ran through her mind then.

"And?" Nadine urged her, wanting to know the rest of the story.

"Nate…" she said softly. "'Be willing to sacrifice blood.'"

Nate looked down at Lara, his eyes full of confusion yet curiosity. "What?" he simply asked, trying to follow her.

"The… the riddle. 'Be willing to sacrifice blood' was the first part of it. We had to prick our fingers, remember?"

"Well, yeah." Nate looked to Leo and Nadine then, who was listening to Lara as well, before he focused back on the Brit. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Lara's eyes trailed over the water. "Because it was telling us about the _fountain. _The fountain needs a _sacrifice_ in order to work," she finally explained, her hand gesturing towards the fountain itself. "It's why the soldier died. He didn't sacrifice anyone so the water killed him itself."

Nate suddenly connected the dots, his brows rising in shock. "That's why all those animal bodies were in there…" he muttered to himself, understanding the situation. Of course, no animals would be sacrificing each other in order to gain the magical effects of the fountain; only selfish humans would do that.

Nadine suddenly grew worried, yet she tried not to show such a weakness. "What are you talking about?" she questioned, trying to remain cool and collected. On the inside, she was unsure and confused.

Leo got to his feet finally and turned towards them fully. "They mean," he started. "You have to give the fountain someone's life in order to gain life for yourself."

"Then how is Trinity going to be able to use it?"

"I think if we make one sacrifice and _then _get a sample, we'll be able to work with figuring out something. We can go from there, of course," Leo uttered. He looked up to Nate and Lara then. "And we have two perfectly good sacrifices right here. Two for the price of one."

Nate shook his head. "We helped you get here. We should at least get some kind of consolation prize for that," he argued. "Not dying is my first pick."

Leo snatched onto Nate's collar, grinning in return. "No consolation prizes here. You either win… or you lose," he cackled, starting to drag him over to the fountain.

Lara's eyes widened. She couldn't attack him; Nadine had a gun. She gulped, trying to figure out what to say. She was at a loss of words again.

Nate struggled to get away from Leo, yet somehow he was finding it impossible to escape his grip. Leo finally grabbed onto the back of Nate's neck and slammed his face into the water, trying to drown him in the fountain in order to properly sacrifice him. Lara could hear the bubbles of air escaping him, the silent screams under the water.

"Wait!" she yelled. "Wait, stop!"

Leo continued.

"Please! I'll-... I'll do it instead. You'll get a sacrifice," she begged, not wanting to see the act anymore. It was then when Leo decided to lift Nate out of the water, seemingly tossing him to the side. Nate gagged and coughed in wants of air, trying to regain himself. He didn't know what was going on. He couldn't exactly react.

Leo narrowed his eyes. "You want to save your old boy toy, huh?" he laughed, rolling his eyes. "What a lousy romance." He put his hand out to her then. "Well, come over here."

Lara stepped over to Leo. Nate looked up and squinted. Though he was still dizzy and somewhat lost, he could tell what was happening. "Lara," he coughed out. "No-"

She couldn't really stop now. She stumbled over to the water. Leo snatched a handful of her ponytail and smirked. "Finally, I can be the one that said I killed the Croft," he whispered in her ear. Right as he was about to duck her head under water, something in the room felt stale. There was something else going on.

"I'd say stop now while you're ahead," Sam's voice called out. Leo turned around, seeing that he had managed to grab Nadine's gun and point it at her head. Alongside him was Jonah and Sully. "Let go of her or... Well, you're a smart man. You can figure out the rest."

Lara perked up with a slight smile. Leo pushed her over to them, gritting his teeth before he sighed. "How useless of you," he spat at Nadine. He grabbed the canteen that was slung around his shoulder, squatting back down at the fountain. "I'll figure out another way."

Nadine narrowed her eyes at him, though made sure to stay still. "'Useless'?" she questioned, angered at his insult. "So, I'm useless now?"

Leo filled up the canteen of water. "Maybe you are," he simply shrugged. Nate realized he had gotten some of the water, which he knew wouldn't end up good if he managed to sneak off with it. He stumbled to his feet before he slammed into the other, sloppily giving Leo a few punches to the face as well.

When Nate fully came back into really knowing any of what he was doing, he looked down at an unconscious Leo. Although he was unsure on how he was able to punch him into unconsciousness, he wasn't complaining. He got up to his feet and let out a little sigh, walking over to the others.

Nadine looked at Leo. She didn't really feel sympathy for him at this point, but she wanted the water still. The canteen he had was important. Even if there was a sacrifice needed before it could be used, she was willing to do that. "Would you let me go?" she uttered to Sam.

"I remember what you did last time you were outta bullets," Sam replied.

Nadine sneered at him. "I don't have time for this," she said.

Lara didn't care about them then. She looked to Nate and furrowed her brows before she had gotten on her tiptoes and caressed his cheek almost out of instinct. His face and hair was still wet and she blinked at him. "Are you okay?" she wondered.

"I'm fine, Biscuit," he explained, not wanting her to worry about him. "Just got a little water in my lungs but it's whatever." He cackled, giving her a weak but meaningful smile in response. He pulled away from holding her hands and focused his attention on Nadine, then to Leo. "So… what are we doing?"

Jonah looked between them and sighed. "What's our options?" he asked.

Sully was just as unsure, yet he did have at least one idea. "I say leave 'em and we get the hell outta here," he suggested.

Nadine perked up. "We can't just leave the fountain," she argued. "It's important."

Lara's eyes went to Nadine. "We have to. It's dangerous," she replied. "If you had seen what Nate and I saw you would understand."

There was a silence then. Nadine wasn't sure what to do. She felt like she was in a bad place, but instead of fighting back, she decided to nod it off and go along with what they wanted for now. She would think of a plan later. One that no longer involved Leo, considering she felt he no longer cared for her. Moreso, she just didn't want to be partnered with someone who called her useless. She was _not _useless.

"Nadine can call of the rest of the men and we can leave," Nate suggested.

Sam nodded to Leo. "What about him?"

"He'll wake up in an hour or two by himself," Nate shrugged. "He'll die by starvation and see Mr. Devil soon enough." He began to walk towards the exit of the cave, gesturing for the others to follow. There was no reason to mess with Leo when he knew he would just be left alone anyway. What point would there be to waste their time?

Once they got out, Nate figured he would close Leo in. Though, he knew there was another exit, that one was still hidden and a little harder to find due to the shrubbery. He closed it off and gave a soft sigh of relief. "Okay." He looked to Nadine. "Time for your part."

"Fine," she agreed. Sam let go of her finally and she grabbed at the radio that was attached to her hip. Bringing it up to her lips, she had informed the other end to stand down and stay at camp. After confirming the orders, she put the radio back and sighed heavily. "We're missing the biggest opportunity by leaving the fountain here."

"I think we're dodging a bullet," Nate disagreed.

Sully rubbed the back of his neck. He was already ready to leave now; the trip felt like it was almost for nothing and he was tired. "Let's get off the goddamn island," he groaned.

Lara nodded. She walked out of the building first and soon stopped. The others watched her, stopping as well since they were unsure of what was wrong. "It's raining a little," she murmured. "But I think—"

The cracking sound of thunder rang through all of their ears.

"I'd suggest not leaving until the storm passes," Nadine simply said. Though she was basically not a threat right now, she was still acting somewhat cold in nature. It was understandable, but she also wasn't about to run out and be caught in a storm.

Lara came back inside and sighed. "Of course," she muttered.

"Well, guess we're camping indoors tonight," Sam said, spreading his arms out to show his full wingspan. He was gesturing towards the entire building. "Gotta say, could be worse."

Jonah laughed. "He's right, you know," he agreed. He looked around for a moment before starting to grab some debris on the floor that he knew they could use for a fire; the floors were made of stone, and it was quite obvious to him that they wouldn't be able to set the place on fire if they made a little campfire for themselves to keep warm during the storm. After gathering what he thought was enough, he set them down for a fire. "Spare a light?" he asked Sam.

Sam crouched down and grabbed his lighter, though Nate stopped him first. His brother ripped out a piece of paper from his journal and handed it to him.

"Don't burn yourself," Nate joked in a mutter.

Nodding, Sam then caught the edge of the paper on fire before he threw it down on the debris pile, which soon tried its hardest to become a suitable campfire.

Lara sat down and huffed. She was a bit annoyed by the circumstances but knew she had to deal with it. Nate sat down next to her. The others soon found themselves sitting in their own respective spots as well.

"You're looking blue," Nate said quietly, nudging her. When she looked over to him, he flashed her a tiny smile in hopes that she could give him one back. "You're not the one who almost got drowned."

Lara shook her head. "I'm just tired of plans not working out," she replied, giving a smile that told him she was, indeed, tired. She glanced up to see that the fire had finally built itself up, and she could feel the warmth from the flames as she heard the sudden heavy rain hit against the roof of the ancient building. She brought her knees up to her chest, staring into the fire.

Pursing his lips, Nate realized what she meant. "Right." He scooted closer to her. The warmth from the fire felt wonderful, especially since he had been cold due to the whole drowning situation. "If you're worried about him, I don't think he'll be going anywhere anytime soon."

"There's another path in there though."

"That leads into the depths of this island's jungle," he replied, making his voice sound darker so he could joke with her. Seeing Lara hide her face in her knees in order to keep him from seeing her smile, he perked up. He scooted closer to her and draped his arm around her shoulders. Squeezing her one shoulder, he laughed gently. "Listen, just gotta wait out the storm and then we can leave."

Lara nodded. "Right… hopefully it's one of the shorter ones," she replied.

* * *

Night had fallen and the storm was still raging on. The others had all managed to fall asleep, even Nadine, while Nate and Lara laid next to each other and stared at the tall ceiling. Their shoulders touched as they laid down.

"Well, when we finally make it out of here… what's the plan?" Nate asked her. He looked over to her and smiled a little.

Lara closed her eyes for a moment. "I guess relaxing," she said, soon giving a little laugh. "What about you?"

"Yeah, I guess the same," he agreed. He tapped his fingers against his chest as he sighed softly. He could feel the pit in his stomach heat up like the core of the earth, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. He knew what he wanted to ask, but felt awkward in doing so. Maybe he could hint at it, but he wasn't quite sure.

"Where do you live anyway?" Lara questioned him, curious as to where he would be. She opened her eyes, her gaze falling onto him.

Nate smiled only a tad bit. "New Orleans," he responded. "Sam said we used to live in Key West when I was little… but I don't remember."

"Wait, so you're originally from Florida?" Lara perked, though cracking a smirk. "That explains a lot."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He sat up, propping himself on his elbow as he grinned down at her. "I know 'Florida man' is a popular headline in newspapers, but not _all _Floridians are crazy," he argued playfully.

Lara managed to giggle due to his statement. "Well… I did partly mean it that way… but I also meant it made sense that you knew where we were going in St. Augustine," she explained.

"I think that was just the Floridian blood 'cause I've never been there." He made a face, though continued. "But I did learn that Sir Francis Drake led a raid there."

She nodded in reply, giving a little yawn before she smiled at him again. "Right…" she murmured. "I don't think I've ever been to New Orleans. I've heard it's nice."

Nate perked up. "Maybe you could come sometime," he suggested. "I could show you around."

"That'd be nice."

"And maybe you could show me around England better," he muttered, not remembering or knowing where exactly in England she was from. He pursed his lips for a moment before he decided to sigh again.

Lara smiled at him once more. She started to scoot closer to him; the warmth of the fire was okay but she felt like she needed more to keep her cozy. She eventually nuzzled into his chest, in which the other wrapped his arms around her almost instinctively. He relaxed and got comfortable with her, feeling her shiver ever so slightly.

At that moment, both of them seemed to understand that there was a mutual agreement to stay silent and listen to everything around them. The crackling of the fire, the rain outside, the breaths that came from one another. Lara had found herself listening to Nate's heartbeat, closing her eyes as she began to drift off to sleep as if it were a lullaby. Nate held her close to his chest, starting to close his eyes as well.

* * *

Nadine opened her eyes when she knew everyone had fallen asleep. She carefully stood up and adjusted her eyes to see Nate and Lara, the light from the fire now low since it was starting to die down. She quietly stepped over to them and squatted down next to the two, her eyes glancing down at Nate's pocket that contained the coin to open the fountain's entrance.

_Just do this slowly and carefully. Don't wake them up_, she thought, taking in a deep breath before she reached her hand out. She tried her hardest to make it quick, but she knew quick and quiet didn't always go according to plan. When her hand had managed to make it into Nate's pocket without any interruptions, she grabbed the coin and tried to get it out gently. Believing she would be home free, she gave a small sigh relief.

When her hand had barely made it out of his pocket, Nate had began to move. He wiggled around a little bit, one arm now loosely around Lara as his other lazily rested on his stomach. Though, his eyes began to flutter open at the feeling of someone touching at his leg.

_Shit_, Nadine cursed herself.

Nate had finally made out who was there after blinking a few times. Still half asleep, he was unsure of the situation. "What are you doing?" he slurred, his eyes looking down at her hand, which was still half way in his pocket. "Oh."

He quickly snatched at her wrist before she could pull the coin out. "You're not trying to go back in there, are you?" he uttered. Nadine looked up at him, the two looking each other in the eyes. Nate could see there was some hint of sorrow, maybe even a hopeful sorrow, in her eyes. He didn't know if that made sense even to himself.

"I have to," she hissed, trying to snatch her hand away. Nate had held a firm grip, regardless of just getting up. "Let go of me."

"Why do you want to so bad?"

Nadine narrowed her eyes. "I need some of the water," she simply said.

Nate sighed heavily, letting go of Lara and slowly sitting up. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, soon pinching the bridge of his nose. "For _what?_ I know you don't care _that _much about Trinity's cause," he said.

She was struck quiet. Clenching her jaw, she looked away. Her brows furrowed before she heavily exhaled from her nostrils. "My mother," she sighed. "She needs it."

Nate parted his lips. He knew she was hurting, he could tell quite easily. Out of sympathy, he let go of her wrist. She snatched her hand back and accidentally dropped the coin onto the floor, but it seemed like she didn't care.

"I'm guessing she's—…?" Nate trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Yes."

He sighed. "Giving her that water isn't going to help her," he whispered. "If anything, it'll make everything worse."

"You don't know that," she growled.

"You still don't believe us, do you?" Nate murmured. He tried to think about what to do. He figured maybe he could show her. He wasn't quite sure exactly how he would do that yet, but he knew it would be better than her believing the fountain would solve her problems. He picked up the coin from the ground and got to his feet, offering his hand to her. "Come on."

Nadine got up without taking his offer.

He guided her over to the wall and opened it up with the coin. When the entrance was open, Nate gestured for Nadine to go first. She didn't move for what seemed like a whole minute before she finally decided to go in. Following after her, they soon made it back to the fountain. Leo was now gone.

Nate looked up towards the other exit and saw that the path looked like it had been recently used. "Guess he didn't mind the rain," he mused, shaking his head.

Nadine crossed her arms. "He's not important right now," she reminded him. "Show me what you wanted to show me."

Nodding, the other sighed. "Right." He gritted his teeth, looking up when he heard a rustling from the bushes of the exit that led outside.

* * *

**A/N: Getting juicy soon... **


	17. Gods & Monsters

**Note: I do not own the Uncharted or Tomb Raider series, only the OCs and plot of this story.**

**Something new. This has a bit more "explicit" language than usual so I guess watch out for that? Anyways, some fun stuff!**

* * *

Nadine wondered what the rustling in the bushes were, her gaze going over in the same direction as Nate was looking. "What was that?" she asked, talking quietly just in case. The other shrugged, obviously just as unsure as she was. When the rustling stopped, it seemed as if whatever had been there maybe ran away. They figured it had been some kind of animal.

Nate shrugged off the incident and looked over to the woman. Before he would be showing her anything, he wanted to ask her something first. "So, okay," he started, walking around the cave as if he were trying to look for something. "I'm still trying to figure out why you took up White's job after Rafe."

"I told you."

"I know, I know… but I thought you wouldn't have wanted anything to do with any kind of treasure hunting after Avery's treasure."

"I'm willing to do anything for my mother," Nadine replied, crossing her arms. "But this isn't a game of 20 questions, Drake."

Nate stopped his fake search and sighed. She was right, but the reality was that he realized he had no idea how he would show her the true "magic" of the fountain. Maybe this was a stupid idea.

The rustling from the bushes came back however. The two looked back over to the exit, seeing that it was still pouring rain outside. Though they were curious about what it was, neither were brave enough to try and investigate the noise. They were in the dark over whatever was outside.

That was until the culprit of rustling the bushes finally revealed itself.

At first, it looked as if it were a type of creature; it was on all fours, yet strangely humanoid. It's skin reminded Nate of the skin of the mummified monster of the fountain, yet he could tell it wasn't the same mummy man. It stood on its two legs, showing its true human nature; it wasn't skinny or showing any bone like the other had. This one seemed… fresh. The face of the thing was familiar, having an eye bandage as it tilted its head and smirked at the two.

Widening his eyes, Nate stepped back. He opened his mouth to say something but was beaten by Nadine:

"Leo?"

Leo stepped into the cave and nodded. "In the flesh," he replied, which shocked Nate, as he didn't expect any kind of conversation. "I'm a new man now."

"What the hell happened to you?" Nadine questioned, unable to believe what she was looking at. She stepped back with Nate in each step Leo took forward.

"I grew stronger," he said. "To make sure Trinity wins."

Nate squinted. "_How_?" he wondered. The other mummy guy had seemed lost in the duty of the fountain's work; he didn't speak, he only did what the fountain wanted him to do. If Leo had done what that guy had done as well, then why wasn't he also under the trance? What was different now?

Leo stopped in his tracks, lifting his arms with a laugh. "I pleaded, Drake. Our God is one of mercy. He gives us guidance to lead us towards our fate," he explained.

Unsatisfied with that answer, Nate shook his head. "I didn't ask for a sermon, White," he murmured. "What the hell did you do?"

"It's a lengthy story."

"We have time."

_Hours Earlier_

"_Please God…" Leo muttered, rolling onto his back. "This can't be the end of our journey. I can't starve to death on this island."_

_There was no kind of sign to give him any kind of answer._

"_I beg of you… give me something to continue. Anything," he sighed. The water of the fountain bubbled slightly. "I'll even give my blood for you." A splash. Leo jerked up and turned towards the water, looking up to see the mummy guard of the fountain. Wide eyed and unsure of how to respond, he froze in utmost confusion. _

_The mummy in question towered over him before bending down. This… new man had offered to give his blood. He had begged for a god to help him. The creature kept its jaw shut, yet managed to somehow speak in a scratchy and unpleasant voice. "You asked for mercy?" it asked._

_Leo kept silent, only nodding._

"_I'll offer it to you."_

"_What?"_

_Silence. The mummy opened its mouth, groaning as a glowing stream of what looked to be mist escaped its body, traveling into Leo's mouth. Gasping for air and feeling as if he were choking, Leo grabbed his neck, his face red as he began to moan in pain. He could feel his insides mummifying, but he could also feel a strange sense of power coursing through his body. With his eyes rolling back, he passed out from the pain of the transfer._

"I woke up like this," Leo smirked, finishing off his story.

Nate tried to figure it out. The mummy guy had given Leo something in order to turn into whatever he was now. Where even was the original mummy dude anyway? Was he no longer existent after he… passed his powers to Leo? He tried to connect the dots, but he realized he would only be able to after he spoke to Lara.

"Leo…" Nadine murmured, her voice shaking. "What did you do…?"

"I changed for the better." He gestured towards the exit then. "I'm stronger… more immune than ever before. I can make sure what God wants _happens_!" He smiled wide, his mummified skin crackling. "And you won't be stopping me."

With that, he turned around and ran off on all fours. He was quick, almost animal-like with his movement before they could react.

Nadine looked to Nate. "What the _fuck _was that?" she yelled, obviously bewildered.

"What I was trying to show you," he responded. "The fountain doesn't help, it kills you… or… does whatever the hell it did to your buddy if you don't sacrifice someone else."

Nate swiftly walked her to the other exit that lead back to their makeshift camp. Once they had made it back where everyone else was sleeping, he bent down next to Lara. He furrowed his brows in seeing how peaceful she now looked in her slumber; he couldn't bear to wake her up only to tell her the news about Leo. It would… break her. He had already seen her freak out earlier. He still didn't know if what he had witnessed was a panic attack or why back there, but he was scared that something like that could happen again.

"What are you doing? Wake her up," Nadine urged him.

"I—" he stuttered, trying to think of what to say. He found himself resting on his knees and putting his head in hands, feeling ashamed of himself for not being able to do something so simple. He huffed, unsure of why he suddenly had such problems.

Nadine watched him for a moment before she exhaled heavily from her nose in frustration. "Did something happen?" she decided to ask.

He looked over to Nadine. "When we were trying to get everyone Lara freaked out and fainted," he explained. "I don't know what it was but— I don't wanna stress her out again after—"

"We have to."

"I know," he sighed. His eyes went back to Lara. She looked so comfortable, so at ease.

Nadine felt like she had known the look he was giving her.

"Be careful and power through those feelings," she murmured. "This is more important than any of your personal needs."

He made a face. How did she have any idea? Did she really have any say on the subject? "What?" he asked.

"I didn't see you like this with your other one."

Nate stood up. "I don't know what you're trying to say—"

"Nothing. I just—" Nadine sighed. She was reluctant to say anything, but she knew she had to in order for them to do anything. After seeing Leo, she knew she couldn't let Trinity distribute the fountain. She couldn't let her mother, especially, die at a faster rate than she already was. "Think first. Feel later."

"What the hell are you—?"

"Rafe."

Nate fell silent. He was shocked, maybe a little confused. His silence told Nadine she needed to explain further.

Looking away, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "I saw something in him, I don't know what it was but I saw _something_. I don't think he ever felt the same feelings back, but he acted like he did. It never went any further than meaningless flirting," she uttered. "But then the further we got into Avery's search, the more uptight he got. The more he yelled, the more I realized he never gave a damn about me."

"Nadine…"

"And when I thought it was finally the final straw, I went right back into a burning fucking ship for him."

"_You think you can trust him? Huh?" Nate questioned her. He held a gun up to Rafe as Nadine and Rafe held a gun up to him._

_She pursed her lips and thought on what he had said. She had noticed changes in Rafe during their time together. He had treated her with no respect the closer they got to the treasure._

"_Not your concern," Nadine said._

_Rafe joined in. "Nate, what are you trying to instigate? Nate— Nadine and I are partners… I don't screw over my partners." He gestured for Nate to go to the corner with his gun. "Get over there." He walked over by Nadine then. "You and your brother though… right from the start, you took advantage of my generosity. You tried to cut me out, and it's high time you learned—"_

_He felt a gun to his head._

"_... What are you doing?"_

"_Now give me your gun," Nadine demanded._

"_Nadine."_

"_I won't ask you again."_

_He slowly handed her his gun, turning around to look at her. "You are being… profoundly stupid right now."_

_Nadine narrowed her eyes. She gestured for them to look towards the two skeletons that sat on the ground that had treasure surrounding them. "Look over there," she urged._

"_Nadine, stop screwing around—" Rafe began, yet was met with her shooting right beside his foot. He jumped up in shock. "Jesus!"_

"_I said look!"_

"_Okay." He looked over at the bodies. "It's a couple of skeletons. So what?"_

_She began to step back up towards the stairs. "I don't know as much about history as you boys… but I've got a pretty good idea who those two were," she mused._

"_Well, enlighten us."_

"_It's Avery and Tew. They killed each other."_

"_Good for them. What's the point?"_

_Nadine pointed the gun again. "Everyone obsessed with this treasure… gets what they deserve," she stated, aiming it towards Rafe. _

Nate tried to think of what to say. Suddenly he was able to connect those dots, and he was surprised he didn't see it before. "I didn't—…" he began, though found himself lost and unsure of how to finish his statement.

She sighed and put up her hand. "Don't," she simply responded. "I'm just telling you to play it safe before you screw us all over."

His tongue glided across his teeth as he found himself in thought, soon shrugging and nodding in reply. "Okay," he murmured, turning his attention back to Lara. He shook her, trying to wake her up. "Lara? Come on… wake up."

"Mm- Nate, what is it?" Lara sighed, scrunching her face up as she began to sit up. "What are you doing up…?"

"Long story."

Lara looked over to see Nadine, raising a brow. "Is… something wrong…?"

Nate grabbed her hand and pulled her up to stand. She leaned against him since she was still groggy and half asleep. "Don't freak out, okay?" he asked.

"What…?"

He gently patted her cheek, wanting her to wake up fully. "It's White," he said. "Something happened."

Lara looked up at him and furrowed her brows.

Nadine gritted her teeth and decided to give them space, walking over to the others to wake them up.

"He's… one of those things now," he whispered. "He said the mummy guy transferred his power of something after he prayed to God." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know what happened ... the only thing he said that made sense was something about blood sacrifice."

The other gulped and held her breath before she finally had an exhale escape her. "Power…" she repeated, trying to figure it out. "Was— was the mummy the power source to the fountain?"

"I guess."

"You said he was praying to God?"

Nate nodded.

"I think… the mummy might have been a god then." Lara pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. "Some ancient god… I don't know… but I guess it would make sense as to how the fountain ever gotten power."

"Yeah… well, if that's the case then White is a god now."

"Fuck." She suddenly hit her fists against his chest, soon hiding her face in it as well. "For once. For once I thought something could go easy."

Nate perked up. "Lara…"

She looked up at him and had tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. "I don't know what to do…" she whined.

He looked her over for a moment before he grabbed her hand and started to walk with her outside. "Come on," he muttered. "We'll talk outside…"

They stepped outside where there was still cover from the rain. He wanted the conversation to be more private just in case.

"I know this is going to sound bad but…" He looked down at his feet for a moment and sighed. "What if Trinity can… come up with a way to make the fountain work without the whole sacrifice thing?"

Lara made a face. "It's _Trinity_… they don't care about sacrifice. They don't care if people get hurt during their research," she told him. "Why— why are you asking?"

"If your theory's right then I don't think we have much of a chance anyway, Lara," he replied.

"We have to _try_."

"With what? If he's a god now then I don't think any bullets are gonna bother him—"

"So, what? You want to give up? Is that what you're saying?"

Nate parted his lips and looked to his side. He tried to think for a moment before saying anything so he wouldn't say the wrong thing. "I don't—… I don't _want _to give up… I'm just saying maybe we need to," he explained.

Lara shook her head. "I've fought worse before," she argued. "I can figure out this one too."

"_You_?"

She crossed her arms. "You can give up all you want but I'm not, Nathan," she uttered. "I'm not letting Trinity win."

"I've been helping you this _entire _time and now it's a you thing because I showed actual concern for our _safety_?" he asked, giving an annoyed laugh. "We don't know what White's capable of now. Dying isn't going to beat them."

"I'm not—"

"You just don't know when to stop, Lara."

"Because I can't stop! Trinity can't win!"

"_Why? Why _can't they win, Lara?!"

"Because they killed my father!" she screamed at him, tears streaming down her face now. She could feel her heart beating fast and she felt light headed.

Nate's eyes widened. He stiffened, his jaw locking up. How was he supposed to respond to that? He looked down at his feet before back over to her. "Lara… I didn't know—"

"I know you didn't. But— but you _never _look at the grey in anything. You always see everything in black and white, never think about the other factors at hand!"

"I don't— I try to—" he stumbled, unsure of what to say.

Lara turned her back to him. "No, you don't. Why do you think your relationship failed?"

"_What?_"

"You did the same thing my dad did. You didn't do anything because you didn't read between the lines."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Did you ever try to talk to her?"

Nate gave a tiny smile of frustration, crossing his arms. "No… no, I didn't, Lara," he decided to say.

Lara huffed. "And you're being given a second chance. She obviously still cares about you. She named her baby over your mother! And what did you do? You got fucking drunk and made a sob story for yourself!" She turned around, showing she was still crying.

"I didn't… make a sob story for myself."

She ran over and pushed at his chest, making him stumble out into the rain. "Then what did you do!?" she yelled at him.

He walked back under the cover, now soaked, and looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I didn't try because I didn't _want _to. The spark isn't coming back. I don't feel _anything _for her anymore," he explained, looking her over. "There is no second chance."

"Oh my god," Lara put her face in her hands.

Nate gave a heavy breath. "There's someone else anyway…" he admitted.

"And who the hell is that?"

"You probably don't wanna hear about it right now."

She looked up from her hand and shook her head. "No… n-no! Just because we slept together doesn't mean—" she started, yet she shut up when he put his hand up.

He shook his head. "It was before that," he told her.

"You fucking idiot," she mumbled, looking down at her feet. She didn't know what else to say. She didn't even know how she felt anymore. There too much information for her to process already.

They remained quiet for a few seconds before Nate ran his hands over his face. "Lara," he sighed. "Stop crying…"

She looked over to him and shook her head. "You can't—"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to him, soon caressing her cheek and trying to give her comfort. He knew he started this and he shouldn't have. "Look, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have snapped at you." He pursed his lips as he thought for a moment. "But I don't want you to be upset, okay?"

Lara leaned her head in his hand as she sniffled, breathing unevenly. She didn't know what to say. She still hurt and she wasn't sure what to do.

Nate leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. In return, Lara had melted into the kiss, realizing she needed the physical affection. She leaned into his chest, not caring that he was soaking wet and cold. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him more, the two sharing the moment for quite a few minutes before they were interrupted.

"What the hell are you two doing out here?" Sully asked. "Nadine told us that White's a crazy mummy and you two are out here sucking face?"

They broke the kiss and looked over to the other.

"We were having a moment, Sully," Nate explained jokingly.

* * *

The group walked throughout the forestry of the island, Nadine leading them towards where the base camp for ShoreTrinity was. The only problem was that there was still no ideas as to how they could possibly deal with White. Would bullets actually hurt him? Judging from the last mummy man, the answer to that was "no." So what were they to do?

"Any ideas on what we're supposed to do against White?' Jonah asked suddenly.

"No, not really," Lara sighed. "There has to be something…"

"Well, let's think… the moon and blood have been pretty big players in this whole thing," Nate reminded them. "So, let's start there."

That was a good point. If the blood and moon gave the fountain power, then there had to be a way to use those things against White, right? The question was how. It would be quite difficult to really figure it out, so there had to be some kind of brainstorm to be taken place. Though, then again, that was a theory.

Sully adjusted his shirt, giving a soft breath. "Well… we're going to have to figure it out soon. We might have enough bullets for those soldiers but I doubt we got enough to keep that goddamn thing entertained," he stated.

Nadine put her hand up and pointed ahead. "The base is up there," she murmured. Nate looked over to her and noticed she had the canteen from the cave on her hip. He wasn't sure when she had gotten in it (probably when he was distracted with Lara, considering he never closed the cave back up), but he decided not to say anything. "I don't know if Leo's gotten here yet."

"I wouldn't doubt if he has", Nate replied.

"Well, guess we're about to find out."

* * *

**Sorry this took sort of longer to update btw LOL**


	18. Prepare

**NOTE: Tomb Raider and the Uncharted series do not belong to me. Only the plot and OCs do.**

**Haven't uploaded in awhile, sorry about that! This is a bit of a shorter chapter as well, but don't worry! The end is coming soon! **

* * *

The group carefully made their way to the base as they saw that all of the soldiers had been inside the tents set up, considering the rain had made them have difficulty in leaving like they were instructed earlier from Nadine. White hadn't quite made it there yet, but the group was shivering from the cold. Making the group follow her into a nearby tent, they soon found themselves in a more comfortable and drier environment.

"Ma'am?" A soldier sprung up, seeing the woman. He was in shock since none of them had seen her in quite some time. "We were starting to think you and White had died."

"Not quite," Nadine murmured, setting down her stuff. "Things got complicated real fast."

"What do you mean?"

"White isn't on our side now. He's an enemy," she replied. She gestured toward the group that came with her. "Treat them like you would me. We're helping them against White."

The soldier nodded, though surprised at the sudden change. "Okay," he said, scrambling to figure out what to do. "Ah— what did White do exactly? What's wrong?"

Nadine pinched the bridge of her nose. "He's not… him. He's more of—…"

"A weird monster god thing," Nate finished for her. "He wants to continue his plan with getting the fountain water spread to everyone. He's on his way here right now."

"So, we need to stop him?" the soldier asked. "What exactly is at hand here?"

"I don't know… maybe the next plague?" Nate sighed, shaking his head as he tried to think. "Listen, it won't be _good,_ that's all I can tell you."

"Get everyone prepared now. If you see White, shoot. You'll know when you see him," Nadine ordered, waving the soldier off. He walked away in following her orders, leaving the group for a moment. Gritting her teeth, she tried to think on what their plan would be for defeating Leo. She sat down in a cot and rubbed her temples.

Lara realized that Nadine was lost. Not only because she recognized the emotion, but because she felt the same thing. How would they defeat something that was basically a god now? The fountain was a divine source of power, and although she and Nate had their fair share of ultimately defeating ferocious creatures in the night, it almost felt different this time. What would be the fate of White?

Nate put his hand on her shoulder then, pursing his lips before he decided to just smile at her. A smile of, what he hoped, looked like reassurance. He didn't want her to second guess herself, even if there were no plans to second guess at the moment. "So…" he murmured. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Well, we have to come up with _something_," Nadine reminded them. "Bullets will only slow him down, I doubt they'll stop him."

While that rang true, the problem was even figuring out how anything would work. Nate had mentioned the importance of the moon, so maybe there _was _something to that. But what could it be? It surely wasn't something so simple.

Nadine grabbed at the canister around her waist and looked it over. Inside was the fountain's magical and deceitful water. Blood for new blood. Drink the water and you'd be as healthy and young as ever. Why did she grab this when she knew the devastating properties that could come with it? This wasn't even useful anymore. Going to pour it out now, Nate glanced over and quickly stopped her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"What? I don't need it anymore," she uttered.

"We could use it," he explained. "Against White. It might be helpful."

Sully made a face as he sat down in a cot next to Nadine. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, I don't know… maybe if he drinks it again under the moon it could do something. We can't exactly rule out any possibilities here, can we?" Nate reasoned, sighing a little. "I mean, we don't have a lot of choices."

"And where'd you come up with that?" Sully questioned.

"I don't know," he muttered. "Vampires burn up when the holy water hits them." That was an attempt at a half-assed joke, but at least it was something.

Laughing, Sam shook his head. "Basing your assumptions off movies?" He crossed his arms. "I don't quite think he's a vampire."

Nate gave a grin. "The fountain takes blood and gives immortality. Kind of is," he argued playfully. "So, maybe my plan isn't so far fetched."

Lara smiled softly, though part of her felt the plan could be useful. "It's worth a shot," she said. "Added with extra wounds I think it could… do something."

* * *

The rain had stopped and the soldiers prepared for whatever necessary when White would come. They didn't really know what was ahead of them and Nadine wouldn't tell them. All they needed to know was to shoot. That was their main goal; hit your target and shoot as much as you can. Get some damage. Stay your ground.

The main group spoke with one another as they figured out plans on what they could do, but ultimately, they prepared themselves. They had semi-decent plans in place, though the main thing was to be prepared for whatever was to come. No one really knew what White was going to do.

Sighing, Lara walked with Nate outside of the tent. "So, our plan is what? Make him drink the water again?" she asked, unsure of herself. "Is that really all we have?"

"That or waste all our bullets," he reminded her.

She nodded in response. She knew that were true. She hoped some magical idea would hit her soon, but for now all they had was the simple plans put into place. But what exactly was White going to do anyway? He wanted to get the water to the people, sure, but what was his plan to do that? Was his tactic to try and scare the soldiers to be on his side?

"If your theory is true… how are we even going to get him to drink it?" she questioned, looking up at him. It was a valid question. Their only option would be to make White drink the water by force.

Nate rested his hand on her shoulder and smiled gently. "We'll figure it out," he reassured her. "That's kind of our whole plan anyway, isn't it?"

Lara nodded in response, looking at his hand. She rested hers on top of his, feeling a sense of unity. "Right," she muttered.

"There's something in the trees!" a soldier yelled in panic, and spew of machine guns soon followed after his call. Shocked at hearing such a thing, Lara grabbed onto one of her guns, preparing to shoot at whatever it was that lurked. She knew it had to be White.

The others came out of the tent as well, taking their places to prepare and fire at the creature. When everyone had found their own position, White found himself in their area. His mummified exterior was still a nasty sight to behold.

"I have to say, this is the worst welcome party I have ever received," White let out, tilting his head. "And where are my guests of honor anyway? My little adventurers."

Silence. Lara and Nate had hid themselves behind a nearby tent. Nobody was shooting at White now. They wanted to save ammo for when they needed to use it.

He jumped onto a few crates. "I want to make an offer. I need help with getting the fountain to the people," he stated. At the new height, he looked down to see where some of the group had been hiding, but there was no sight of the two he wanted. He saw Nadine, narrowing his eyes. "Look who it is."

Nadine snarled. She didn't want to act out. She decided to stay where she was.

"Joining the other side. How easy you are to betray," White cackled, waving it off. "Let's see if you'll do it again: where's Lara and Nathan?"

She shook her head. "I'm not telling you anything," she responded. "You're not winning this."

He growled, deciding to wave her off again. He wasn't dealing with her. He jumped off the crates and began to inspect the area to find the two treasure hunters. Then, realizing that he hadn't checked a key place, he looked behind the tent.

There they were. His little treasure hunters.

"You're bad at hide and seek," he teased. He stepped in front of them, looking down at the two. "And you didn't even let me count."

Lara gripped her gun tighter.

"I wanted to make a proposition," White explained. "Just listen to me."

Confused, the two glanced at one another. In the back of their heads they knew they wouldn't be able to get out of it, so they turned their attention back to the other.

"If we work together, then we all split the profits. The pride. The beautiful feeling of helping the people of this world," he smiled, gesturing towards the sky. His smile was eerie, his cracked lips and mummified skin making him look like something from a horror movie. "We won't have to fight. This is a good deal I'm offering, here."

"You think we would give up everything?" Lara asked. "We got this far and you think-"

"It's your best choice," he growled. He gestured towards himself. "In case you forgot what I am now."

Nate gave a huff. "Listen, White… we're not working with you," he stated firmly, reaching for his handgun. "You know how dangerous the fountain is." He narrowed his eyes. White knew very well, but he was denying the truth.

"Very well then," White replied, his smile coming back to him as he suddenly grabbed onto Nate. His grip was firm, his monstrous hand holding onto the adventurer's neck.

Panicked, Nate fumbled with the gun before he was able to actually fight back. He managed to put the gun under White's chin and fired, which caused the other to let go of him and stumble back with a screech. Nate coughed, looking to Lara. She began to shoot at the creature then, trying to weaken him a little.

The others heard the shooting, some of them leaving their cover to shoot at the monster. White continued screeching before jumping onto the top of the tent. Furious, he tried to think of his next move. He would have to get Trinity to assist him in getting as much water as possible, and besides, he was still the leader of them. They couldn't say no, really.

"I'm still the power of Trinity," he yelled, wanting any surrounding soldiers to hear him. "You follow my orders! I want that fountain's water."

"They're not going to listen to you, White," Nadine shouted at him. "You understand that, don't you?"

White growled at her. Nadine suddenly had power over _his_ soldiers. There was only one way to easily take care of that.

He jumped down onto the ground in front of her, and although she was quick to shoot, he was quicker to grab her. He put a sharpened nail up to her throat in threats to slit it, holding her tightly.

"Shit," Nate muttered, seeing the scene as he stood to his feet. He gave a heavy breath. "Let her go, White."

"I don't think I can do that."

Lara furrowed her brows. "Listen to me… if you kill her, it's not going to change anything. If you try to 'give charity' with the fountain, it's only going to end in failure," she explained. "I don't know how many times we have to tell you."

Nadine gritted her teeth. "It turned you into a fucking monster, Leo," she told White, giving a heavy breath. "You're not even human anymore. You're not thinking straight."

White looked around, seeing that all of the soldiers he once had an authority over were fearful of him. They once saw him with a light of hope. This made him grow with more fury, snarling as she threw Nadine onto the ground.

"That fountain will save the world. It will appease our savior!" White exclaimed. He was annoyed. How can nobody see that? It was plain as day.

"No god is asking you to do any of this," Nate stated.

White snarled again. He was getting more angry. He needed them to understand. He needed to get the fountain out into the world.

"I guess I'll have to make you all see it," he shouted.

* * *

**A/N: Leo is now going to be referred to as "White" for ease of remembering he has transformed into a monster, in case some of you were confused. Hopefully the next update wont take forever, lmao. Hope you enjoyed!**


	19. Distract and Destroy

**The Uncharted and Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. Only the OCs and plot do.**

**Note: Next chapter! This time there wasn't that long of a wait, let's see if I can keep that up (even if the end is very near). **

* * *

The statement that White had yelled was followed by him jumping up onto another tent. He snarled at anyone near him, which caused for the others to quickly find some kind of cover in order to start shooting at him again. Lara and Nate got behind a row of metal crates, getting their guns ready to shoot at him.

"Try to aim at his head this time," Nate suggested to her, swiftly turning around to shoot at the creature. Lara tried to follow suit. The cycle of shooting and ducking with White took what felt like forever, even if it was really only a few minutes. When they realized the bullets really weren't doing anything, they knew they had to come up with something else. It was time to try and get him to drink the water.

Lara leaned against the crates with a sigh of annoyance, looking to the other. They could hear everyone else shooting still, along with White's screeches and the occasional screams of those he had killed. It felt like a war zone to some extent, but those sounds felt familiar to her, as much as she hated to admit it.

"What now?" she asked.

"We're gonna have to make him drink the water," he replied.

Lara gave a heavy breath. She took the water from Nadine earlier, looking down at it as the canister was now attached to her hip. "But _how_?" she questioned. It was difficult to attempt such a thing.

Nate made a face. He was just as confused but as he looked around him, he knew that the constant shooting wasn't going to do anything to defeat White. "I'll distract him. If we can get him at a vulnerable position or something we can maybe manage it," he murmured. It wasn't a plan. It wasn't anything really. It was just all they had.

"Distract him…? Nate—" she began, but she noticed that he had already gotten up at that point. She couldn't argue with him. She simply scooted over to where he had been sitting just moments before, watching him go out to greet White.

Many of the bullets stopped, people seeming to cease fire due to seeing Nate, but also because they most likely realized they were just wasting ammo. While White looked weakened, he definitely wasn't no where near dead.

White looked to see the other walking towards him, squinting. He wasn't sure what he was trying to pull.

Nate didn't know what he was trying to pull either.

He threw his gun at the ground and gave White a look. "This isn't going anywhere," he told the other. "We both know that."

"Then what is this?" White asked, gesturing towards the situation. "A surrender?"

Laughing, Nate shook his head. "Definitely not that," he replied, finding the idea of that pretty ridiculous. He began to walk towards White at a faster pace. "Let's talk."

Lara peeked out, watching the scene. Nate was certainly distracting White, but for how long? She looked over to where Sully was then, who was just as lost as everyone else. No one knew what was happening, other than Lara. She sighed, glancing back over to the creature.

"About _what?" _White growled. The two were circling each other at this point. It looked very much like two wolves ready to attack each other.

Nate gulped, but made sure he didn't show any signs of fear. "Let's start with your massive makeover," he suggested, giving a smirk. "What was it for if you're not even using it right?"

"What?"

"You're all bark. No bite. You're still just the same Leo," Nate said, trying to get a rise out of the other. At this point, Lara understood that he was just trying to make the other mad… but why? That wouldn't end up good. It made no sense, at least not to her. She was close to stopping it but she knew she couldn't just do such a thing.

White glared at him in response. "What are you trying to say to me, Drake?"

"That God wasted his time with you."

This made White stop dead in his tracks. How could this thief ever act as if he knew what God wanted? Growling, it was quite obvious that the creature was now furious. He was seething, and it was made more apparent when he launched at Nate. He pinned him to the ground and began to try and cause damage, trying to punch and claw at him. While he landed some of these, Nate tried just as hard to block and dodge, though it was difficult.

Lara's eyes widened. She looked around, trying to see if there was anything that could help her. She couldn't do anything just yet, she knew that. Her eyes scanned the area around her, and when her eyes caught sight of a compound bow, it almost felt like everything paused. It was laying next to the dead body of a soldier, who she assumed was its previous owner. She crouched and swiftly made her way over to it, grabbing it as fast as she could, along with the arrows she needed.

Nate winced as White decided to scratch at his side. He grunted, managing to give a good kick to White's chest. The other fell back in surprise, which allowed Nate to sit up and crawl away as quick as he could manage.

Lara ran back over to her cover, where she had good sight of White. She began to ready herself to aim, making sure to go for the head. She wanted to be as accurate she could.

"Now, now, now… don't run away from me just yet," White said, suddenly slamming back down onto the other. Nate gave a groan, trying to push him off though to no avail. White placed his hand over Nate's face as he held him down, trying to suffocate him. His attention was focused only on the other who squirmed and attempted escape from under him.

Nate grabbed onto White's wrist. He realized he couldn't really do anything now. White was too strong. He was still trying his best to escape, but he knew nothing would really work. He stopped, trying to save some sort of energy.

Meanwhile, Lara had a perfect shot of White's head. She hadn't noticed that Nate had basically gave up and stopped moving. She simply let go of the arrow and made her shot.

Everything felt like it was in slow motion. She couldn't hear anything other than the arrow that she watched lodge into White's head. The creature screeched and threw Nate into the base of a nearby tree. Without thinking, Lara ran over to Nate. White was still screeching, the arrow in his head obviously causing great pain.

"Nate?" she murmured, getting on her knees next to him. He was laying down at the base of the tree. He looked to be knocked out. Her mind raced. She wasn't really thinking, her brows furrowing as she looked him over. She didn't really know if he was okay or not, but her blurry vision from sudden tears made her stand up. She had to focus on White for now.

She turned to see him still having trouble with the arrow. The creature had fell to his knees, holding his head. Lara narrowed her eyes. She was now the one filled with anger. She felt awful but pushed it aside, running after him and then slamming herself into him.

She got on top of him, shaking as she began to punch him aggressively. "You stupid bastard!" she yelled, getting her teeth. She repeatedly threw her fists into his face, obviously uncaring. She was sick of White. She was sick of Trinity. She was sick of everything that dealt with them.

She soon grabbed one of her guns from a holster and then began to hit at his face with the handle, not seeming to mind the screams and screeches that came from him. She was giving him what she felt he deserved, yet she soon stopped. She threw the gun to the side and grabbed her canister, opening it up and shoving it into his mouth. "Drink it!"

White put his hands up, trying his best to object. He couldn't, obviously, and he instead began to take in the water by force. When Lara stood back up and stepped away to see if anything had happened, she could see that he was starting to jerk around, almost like how a fish out of water would from suffocation.

The screeching only got louder, she could see his mummified skin look like it was bubbling up. She couldn't tell if anything was happening with his face, considering she had beat it so much, but she knew _something _was happening to him.

He tossed from side to side before he began to puke up blood, his body shaking. He could no longer take the pain he was being put through, screaming once more before he finally fell silent. He no longer moved. He only laid there, seeming to be lifeless.

White was dead.

Lara gave a heavy breath, gulping. She was relieved, and surprised, but relieved that he was gone. She quickly made her way back to Nate.

When she got back on her knees next to him, she grabbed onto his head and rested it in her lap. She patted his cheek gently. "Nate?" she asked, sucking her breath then. "Nate…? Come on."

The others then began to surround her. They realized White was dead. Sully perked up in seeing the situation.

"Damn kid," he sighed, shaking his head. He felt as if these scenes of worry were way too frequent with Nate. He could tell he was breathing, but he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to wake up.

Lara gave a huff. She was annoyed to some extent, though the tears that she had held back earlier began to pour like afternoon showers. She pressed her forehead against his, shaking and sniffling as she cried.

Nate's hand twitched. His eyes fluttered open, though he groaned in response to the sudden pain that shot through his head. Hitting his head on a tree wasn't in his plans today. He coughed a little before realizing that Lara was right above him.

Hearing him shift around and make noise, she looked at him for a moment. She couldn't stop her crying but she didn't manage to hug him quite suddenly. He grunted, though didn't want to disappoint, wrapping his arms around her.

"Judging by… the crying… you got White?" Nate murmured, trying to sit up. Lara pulled away, nodding as she started to wipe her tears away.

She gulped, clearing her throat. "Yeah, he's dead," she explained.

"And he threw you like a ragdoll," Sam stated, gesturing towards his brother. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… good. Everything just kind of… hurts," Nate laughed gently, in which he tried to stand, though quickly leaned against Lara who stood as well. He gave a sigh and smiled goofily, as if everything were fine. "So, he's really dead, huh?"

Lara nodded. "He is," she said, giving a weak smile. She looked over to Nadine. "I think it's time to go."

Nadine took in a deep breath before she agreed. "I'll get everything ready for us." She walked away to do such a thing, leaving the others by themselves.

Jonah pinched the bridge of his nose. "The water actually worked," he let out, finding it rather crazy. Though, he was relieved. This whole thing was finally over. They no longer had to worry about White or the fountain. Everything was finally done.

Sully gave a cackle. "I'm surprised it worked myself," he replied, giving Nate a look. "You better not have a goddamn concussion, kid."

"No promises," Nate smirked.

Lara elbowed him in the side, shaking her head as she began to walk with them towards the base area. She wanted to find a place for Nate to sit down while they waited for a ride to leave. She was thankful that he was okay, at least to some extent. She didn't know if he had anything really wrong with him for now.

They walked into a tent. Lara helped sit Nate down on a cot, in which she sat down next to him.

Looking over to her, he gave a soft breath. "So…" he started. "Considering I passed out… what happened?"

Lara gave a heavy sigh. She figured she could tell him as they waited.

* * *

Nadine had arranged for a helicopter to drop the couple off at a hospital in New Orleans. Although Lara thought they should go to the nearest one, Nate had decided to just wait on one back home. Sully flew Sam and Jonah in his own plane, wanting to give Lara and Nate personal space.

"I can't believe my first visit to New Orleans is going to be to a hospital," Lara murmured, leaning into her seat.

"At least you're getting a free trip," Nate replied, wincing as he grabbed onto his side. "Shit."

She glanced over to him and frowned. "What is it?"

"He scratched me," he explained. "But I think when he was throwing me around he might've broke something." He gave a heavy breath and made sure to relax.

"Do you think one of your ribs are broken?" she asked, concerned.

He simply shrugged. It definitely hurt around that area, but what did he know? It could be something less severe, but it wasn't like he never dealt with a broken rib before anyway. He gave her a weak smile.

"I guess we'll find out," he told her.

She gave him a face. "You're acting really calm for someone who might have punctured lung," she pointed out, joking with him.

He leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. "It's not a big deal. I've taken a lot of bad falls," he reminded her. "It's just part of the job."

"I've never broken a rib, actually."

"Oh, really? Well, look at you," he laughed gently, trying not to make anything hurt worse. "I'm not surprised. You're smarter about this stuff."

Lara placed her hand on top of his, causing him to look over to her in response. "I'm just more cautious. It doesn't mean I'm any smarter than you," she corrected him, giving a small smile.

His eyes focused on their hands before his attention went back to her face. Her smile caused him to smile as well. He couldn't help it, regardless of any pain he felt in his body.

"Right. That's why I have the broken bones and you're away with a few scratches," he joked.

"You have the broken bones because you were distracting White… and he ended up dead like you theorized too. I don't think what you did was for nothing," Lara said, her thumb stroking his knuckles. "Besides, I think we can both learn from each other."

"You think so?"

"Well, you have a lot more experience than me," she let out. "You've been doing it a lot longer."

He raised a brow. "How _old_ do you think I am?" he asked playfully.

Lara shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that," she laughed. Though, she thought for a moment then. It looked like she was actually thinking about it.

"That doesn't mean—" he began, but he stopped when she spoke again.

"Thirty… something?" she guessed.

"Very close. 33," he replied.

She smiled and leaned her head on his arm. "27," she responded, telling him her own age.

He smiled more, looking down at her. Even if they were on their way to a hospital, he didn't seem to care very much. He was enjoying this moment, somehow.

* * *

The hospital was quiet and peaceful after everything was situated. Nate did end up with a broken rib, but luckily it was only that. He would be able to leave and go home soon. Lara sat down beside his bed in a chair, sighing a little as she leaned back and looked over to him. The last time she had been in a hospital was for Samantha. It hurt her to remember that, but she tried to push it away.

"Hospitals freak me out," Nate muttered, his head leaning against his pillow.

"Hospitals?" Lara asked, laughing softly. "After everything you've seen, it's hospitals that scare you?"

He closed his eyes and gave a heavy breath. He smiled gently, perking up when he saw the door open. Sully, Sam, and Jonah had walked in. He gave a weak and lazy wave to them before he relaxed again.

"What's the news?" Sam questioned, walking over to his little brother.

Nate looked up to him. "A broken rib and a mild concussion," he replied, as if that were something good to hear. "So nothing too bad."

Sam shook his head in response. "You're the only person to say a _broken rib_ isn't bad," he told him, sighing.

"After getting electrocuted, it really isn't," Nate argued.

Lara gave him a look. "Electrocuted?" she asked, obviously surprised.

"Long story," he murmured.

Sully crossed his arms as he glanced over to Nate. "So… after all that, what did we get?" he complained, but almost playfully in a sense. "Not a damn thing."

Lara put her hands up defensively. "Well, White didn't destroy humanity," she reminded him, laughing a little bit. She figured that was treasure enough. She didn't really care if they didn't get anything. They found the Fountain of Youth. They destroyed White. She hoped that Trinity was finally over.

Jonah walked over to Lara, standing behind her and resting his hands on her shoulders. He gave them a squeeze. "I think that's prize enough," he said, agreeing with her. "And the fact that none of us are dead is good too."

Lara nodded, her eyes looking over to Nate. She gave a small smile, tilting her head as she thought for a moment. There was silence, only for just a minute in time.

"Yeah," she finally said. "That too."

* * *

**A/N: The end is coming very soon! Pretty excited for it honestly, considering it'll be something I actually complete for once lol. But don't worry, even after this ends... there's gonna be plenty more of Nate and Lara (haha, yes, definitely more). Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's a bit choppy in the start to have it seem "fast" paced, but eh.**


	20. This Isnt Goodbye, This Is The Beginning

**The Uncharted and Tomb Raider series do not belong to me. Only the plot and OCs do.**

**Note: SOOOOOO... this is the last chapter! It's very short, but to be honest... I think it does its job. It's a nice ending to this thing that I enjoyed doing. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

* * *

"I'll be going home. Sully offered me a flight back," Jonah told Lara, smiling at her as he gave her a hug. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight, upset to see him go. She knew he had to go back home though, so she wouldn't keep him much longer.

"Okay. I'll make sure to keep in touch," she said.

He pulled away and nodded, his hand on her shoulder. "Stay safe. I'll call you when I can—" he began, though Lara shook her head with a laugh.

"Email me. I have to get a new phone." She patted his hand. "But you stay safe too. Bye, Jonah," she smiled. Jonah gave her one last goodbye and walked out of the hospital. Sully would drive him and Sam.

Nate walked over to Lara, now out of his hospital attire and in the clothes he had came in with. He offered her a friendly face, looking at her with soft eyes. "I called a cab," he informed her, crossing his arms. "We can get everything situated when we get to my place."

She nodded, sitting down one of the chairs that filled the waiting room. "I'm glad you're okay," she muttered. Nate sat down next to her. He felt as if she wasn't so relaxed as she tried to seem like she was.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Lara stared at her hands folded in her lap, sighing. "I've just been thinking about Samantha," she admitted, resting her eyes for the moment. "The last time I seen her was in the hospital."

"What do you mean?"

"She got possessed by Queen Himiko. She went around and did some crazy things… Trinity did some things to her. I rescued her, of course… and when I got her in the hospital, well… her parents hated me after that," she groaned, leaning her head back.

Nate frowned. "And then you told them to take her somewhere safe," he remembered.

"Yes."

"I'm sure she's doing fine," he murmured, trying to make her feel better about the situation. He grabbed onto her hand and flashed her grin, one of reassurance. She looked over and smiled weakly in return.

* * *

Lara looked around Nate's apartment once she walked in, hearing the door shut as he walked in after her. He walked her over to the couch, sitting down with her. Nate figured he would talk to her before anything else.

"Your flat's nice," she murmured.

"For what I could do with it," he replied, laughing softly as he leaned back. "The rent is cheap."

She nodded, snorting as she took her hair out. "I need to wash my hair. It feels so… greasy," she groaned, hating the feeling. She patted his leg and smiled a bit. "I really need a shower."

Nate looked down at her, raising his brows. The idea of a shower sounded great, actually. The idea of a shower with her sounded even better. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it playfully.

"We can take one," he grinned.

She stood up with him. "Lead the way, please," she laughed. She followed after him into the bathroom, in which he was quick to turn the shower on. Lara began to undress, happy to get out of her dirty clothes. Nate followed suit, his eyes tracing over her body.

She had some fresh bruises and scratches now. This felt much different from the last time he had seen her nude. His environment was familiar now, and they no longer had to worry about anything. They were free to be in peace.

He stepped into the shower once he knew the water was hot, letting her in as well before he closed the shower curtain. He twirled them around so she could be under the water, knowing how she was complaining about her hair.

The hot water felt amazing after everything she had been through. This shower alone just felt like she was washing off the adventure, which was ideal for her. She embraced the water and simply stood under the shower head for a moment to do so, only stopping when Nate handed her the shampoo.

"Thank you," she murmured, squirting some shampoo into her hand. She gave the bottle back to him and began to scrub her scalp, humming softly as she washed her hair.

Nate watched as she did, swaying a little before he set the bottle down. He would wash his hair after she finished everything.

Lara washed out the shampoo and put in some conditioner, washing that out as well. Nate gave her the body wash, giving a soft sigh. "Are you going to ask Sully to take you back home?" he questioned.

"I don't really want to," she murmured, rubbing the soap all over her body. "When he gets back I wouldn't want to force him to leave again. I'll just get a flight back myself."

He nodded in return, watching her hands. "Right, that makes sense," he replied. Lara put some more of the body wash into her hands and began to lather him up as well, her hands rubbing at his chest. He looked down at her and gave an awkward smile.

Lara figured he didn't really want her to go. She understood why; after all, they had been together for the entirety of the whole fountain thing. They had made a connection so she knew why he may not have been too keen on the idea of her leaving so soon, but then again, she had to get home and figure some things out herself.

"It's okay," she laughed. "I'll make sure not to get one that's too early."

* * *

Lara had booked a flight for the next day at 7 AM. While that wasn't too early for her, considering she was a morning person, it definitely was for Nate. He had awkwardly sat on the bed beside her as she used his laptop to book the flight. It was done and over with now though. They had ordered take out, settled down, and were now in bed.

"You want to come with me to the airport?" Lara asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay," she let out, smiling softly as she turned over and looked at him. "That's good."

Nate pursed his lips, glancing over at her. He was definitely thinking about her leaving. Part of it was because he knew he would be, in a weird sense, lonely. He had people, yes, but not like Lara. He had only known her for a little while, but she was special for some reason. He gave her a weak smile in response. "I just wanna be able to give you a proper goodbye," he laughed, closing his eyes.

"I know. It means a lot," she admitted.

"Does it?"

"It's rare to have someone say goodbye to me at an airport."

Lara shifted, kissing his cheek. She was happy, but upset she would have to go to some extent. "Goodnight, Nate," she murmured.

He nodded. "Goodnight, Lara."

* * *

The airport was actually rather busy. Lara's plane was about to leave, and she gave the other a smile. She quickly hugged him, careful to not be too tight because of his rib. "I'll see you," she laughed, pulling away.

"Promise?" he questioned, though playfully.

"I hope so."

Nate flashed her a grin. "I would like to give you a proper tour of New Orleans," he pointed out, rubbing the back of his neck. Which was true. He thought it would be nice to have her back to do such a thing.

Lara nodded, obviously happy to hear such a thing. "I would love that," she admitted. Though, she looked away before back to him. "Um… I have to go." She laughed awkwardly, giving him a wave as she began to walk away. "Bye, Nate."

He sighed and waved in return as he watched her walk away. "Bye, Lara."

* * *

_A Few Weeks Later_

Lara sat at her desk, looking over her father's old research on the fountain. She gave a small smile to herself. This was all real, just as his other research projects had been. It was nice to give her father that credibility, even if she couldn't really do it publically… but _she _knew he wasn't insane, and that was all that mattered.

Her hand traced over the old papers. "Someone helped me help you, Dad," she murmured under her breath. She closed the files, sighing softly as she leaned back in her desk chair. "I think you would've liked him. His name is Nate."

A knock came at the door then, in which she quickly looked up to see Winston holding a cup of tea for her. "Miss Croft?" he said aloud, walking into her office. "I have your tea."

"Thank you," she nodded.

Winston made his way over to her desk and gave her the drink. He gave her a gentle smile, obviously happy to see her back home. "It's nice to see you back, you know," he admitted.

"Really?" she laughed, taking a sip of the hot tea.

Winston cackled in response. "Yes… I'm curious about your friend though. You never told me anything," he told the girl.

Lara set her tea cup down. She gave a breathless laugh, realizing she hadn't. "He's fine. I've kept in contact with him," she explained. "He lives in New Orleans, you know."

"Ah, I see." Winston gestured towards the desk then. "I'll leave you alone now."

"Thank you, Winston."

"You're welcome, Miss Croft," he replied, walking out of the office and closing the door behind her.

Something about Winston asking about Nate gave her peace. It was refreshing. It made her happy that he had asked about it. Though, she shook it off then, giggling to herself. When her computer notified her of receiving an email, she perked up and quickly checked it to see what exactly it was.

**Hey, Lara**

** I was thinking about your promise. I do want to see you again. A lot. And I really want you to see New Orleans in a better light than a hospital and my old apartment. I was thinking maybe we should meet up again. Soon. i don't know when. I didn't really think this out really good I guess I just wanted to tell you or ask you or something.**

** Maybe we can figure something out. I just think it would be nice to see each other again but on different terms. I don't really want to have to see you because of some crazy goose chase. Id like to see you in a more relaxed setting, you know? Like, climbing the side of a mountain isnt really too relaxing.**

** Just get back to me whenever you can**

**Thanks,**

** Nate**

Lara read over the email, her mouth forming a smile that began to become bigger and bigger in each line she came across. When she finally finished reading it, she took a deep breath and laughed softly. Of course she would respond right now.

She began to type up her email in reply to him. She typed quickly but after she finished it she made sure to correct any typos or mistakes. When she was happy with it, she quickly hit sent.

**Nate,**

** I'd really love to see each other again too. I think actually seeing New Orleans for its actual beauty would be great! But, I really would just like to see you for the most part. It's been really quiet for the past few weeks and I guess I just want someone to talk to that isn't Winston or Jonah. **

** I don't know, really. There is something about you that I really like. Maybe part of this is because of our odd situation. Regardless, I really do want to see you again. Maybe sometime next week? I don't know. Keep me updated!**

**I'll see you really soon,**

** Lara**

* * *

**A/N: Now, this is the end of this specific fanfiction but I just want to say that it's not the end of me writing about these two haha. I'm going to be making more stories of these two that continue off this one. I really love doing these, they're quite fun! But I'm happy to have completed something :)**


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